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UAE chairs UN session on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space

Director of UAE Space Agency delivers speech highlighting the importance of equal access and international cooperation

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The UAE, represented by Omran Sharaf, Director of the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM), chaired the 65th session of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).

During the session, the committee’s members approved the draft report of the Working Group on Space and Global Health. The report considers the different opinions of the committee’s member states.

Sharaf said the space sector recently witnessed the emergence of new technologies and a growing number of involved entities, therefore, requiring greater cooperation in drafting guidelines to maintain the long-term sustainability of space-related activities.

The committee aims to promote international cooperation in ensuring compliance with United Nations (UN) treaties regulating safety and sustainability in outer space, he further added.

In his inauguration speech, Sharaf welcomed Angola, Bangladesh, Panama, Slovenia and Kuwait as new members of the committee, which now has 100 member states.

He also welcomed the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKA) and the Lunar Open Corporation, which joined the committee as observers.

Salem Al Qubaisi, Director of the UAE Space Agency, delivered a speech highlighting the UAE’s belief in the importance of equal international access to outer space and international cooperation in the development of space activities.

He also pointed out that the UAE aims to empower the private sector in this area and attract local and international investments in the sector, by implementing ambitious space projects and building the relevant capacities of national cadres.

According to the system in force at the UN, the UAE presidency of the COPUOS, affiliated with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), will continue for a period of two years in 2022 and 2023, during which Sharaf will assume the position of president.

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