The United States government has approved a licence authorising Boeing Co. to enter into talks with India's premier space agency for jointly developing and marketing communication satellites, an official said Tuesday.
Kenneth Juster, US Under Secretary of Commerce, told Indian and US delegates at a space conference in Bangalore that clearance was given last week by his government.
"Our government approved just before the conference a licence authorising Boeing Satellite Systems to engage in discussions with the Indian Space Research Organisation on the division of responsibilities of possible joint cooperation in developing and marketing communication satellites," he said.
The five-day conference, which will end on Friday, is exploring possibilities of space cooperation between the United States and India.
More than 500 Indian and foreign delegates are attending the meeting, among them 150 US officials and industry representatives.
Juster said there was a great opportunity ahead for collaboration between the two nations in peaceful use of space.
"Earlier this year our leaders agreed to a strategic framework to expand cooperation in several key areas, including high-technology trade, civilian space programmes and civilian nuclear activities," he said.
"They also agreed to enhance our dialogue on missile defence. The proposed cooperation known as the Next Steps strategic partnership will progess through a series of steps that will build on each other," Juster said.
He hoped the new left-leaning Indian government would embrace the partnership and move forward.
"The US recognises that India is not a party to certain multilateral non-proliferation regimes. We need to advance cooperation in high-tech trade, civilian space activities in ways that do not undermine the general international framework on non-proliferation," Juster said.
In Washington on Monday, the US government said it wants to strengthen an agreement with India that allows sharing of satellite data and other environmental research.
Potential for expansion of the 'Memorandum of Understanding for Science Cooperation in the Areas of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences' was being discussed at the talks in Bangalore, it said.
The agreement could boost an Earth observation program and improve weather and climate forecasting in India, it added.
The memorandum, first signed in 1997 and extended in 2002 for five more years, provides for the near-real-time exchange of US and Indian geostationary and other satellite data under a cooperation programme in the Earth and atmospheric sciences.
The Bangalore conference is a follow-up to a landmark meeting between former Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and President Bush in November 2001.
-- AFP
