Statement by David Stevens

Statement by David Stevens

David Stevens
United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs

United Nations / Islamic Republic of Iran Regional Workshop on the Use of Space Technology for Environmental Security, Disaster Rehabilitation and Sustainable Development

Tehran, 8 – 12 May 2004

Your Excellency Prof. Ahmad MOTAMEDI, Minister for Communication and Information Technology, Mr. Hassan SHAFTI, President of the Iran Space Agency, Mr. Ahmad TALEBZADEH, Director of the Iran Space Agency, Mr. Bernard ALLENBACH from SERTIT and who is representing at this workshop the European Space Agency and all my fellow colleagues who have joined us today particularly those that are not from the Islamic Republic of Iran who are no doubt as pleased and excited as I am to be here taking advantage of the hospitality here in Tehran.

It gives me great pleasure to be here today. This Workshop represents the culmination of intense work by many people from several institutions. I want to express the appreciation of my Office to everyone who has contributed or will contribute to making this event possible and successful. Most of all, I would like to express my appreciation to you, the participants and speakers who have come from over 20 countries, from mainly Western, Central and South Asia but also from the Americas, Africa and Europe, to share with us your experiences and your knowledge. It will be you and your efforts that will make this a successful Workshop.

This Workshop is part of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications and has been organized jointly with the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology through the Iran Space Agency. I will say a few words about the Programme during my presentation in the next session. At this moment, I would like to thank our co-organizer who has made this event possible. We are greatly indebted to the Iran Space Agency for providing these excellent meeting facilities and the full support infrastructure which comes with it. In particular, I would like to personally thank Mr. Parviz TARIKHI and Mr. Ahmad TALEBZADEH. From my Office I would like to also thank Ms. Sharafat GADIMOVA. We are also very grateful for the technical contributions and financial support that has been provided by our co-sponsor the European Space Agency. The continuous support we receive from the European Space Agency has been fundamental to the success of our Programme.

We first started planning this workshop about one year ago, when the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran proposed to my Office that we organise a workshop in Tehran. We were most pleased with this invitation, as my Office has never had the opportunity of developing an activity in Iran. We expect that this is the first of many.

Dear Colleagues
We are here today because we are all aware that solutions that take advantage of cutting edge space-based technologies, such as earth observation satellites, meteorological satellites, communication satellites and global navigation satellite systems, have a major and central role to play in the areas of environmental security, disaster rehabilitation and sustainable development. There are many current and potential users of such solutions. Our objective in this Workshop was to bring together some of these users. Asia and Western Asia have the need for innovative solutions to support increased development. The moment is right to work together to take advantage of these solutions for the benefit of the region.

You will see presentations and case studies by solution providers that show how space technology could help solve day-to-day problems. You will also see presentations on success stories that will demonstrate how these solutions are already making a difference. It is our belief that sharing experiences is an essential step towards further incorporating space tools operationally into the planning and decision-making processes of the countries in the region.

We hope this workshop will increase the awareness of the potential benefits of using space-based technologies and enable the consolidation of networking among national institutions and international and regional agencies, the definition of possible partnerships and most importantly the development of a regional strategy that will lead to the greater incorporation of space technology solutions.

It is up to each one of us in the coming days to discuss together the possibilities that exist to enable the incorporation space technology solutions in environmental security, disaster rehabilitation and sustainable development and work towards successfully bringing together a Common Vision, a Tehran Vision, that will enable us to reach together the objectives that we are pursuing. I wish you all a very productive Workshop.

Thank-you very much.