Ｓｉｎｏ－ＥＵ Ｇａｌｉｌｅｏ Ｓａｔ－Ｎａｖ Ｐｒｏｇｒａｍｍｅ Ｅｘｐａｎｄｓ

Chma and the Euro-pean Union (EU)'ssatcllitc navigationco-operation， the GalileoProgramnc， has announcedseven new projects.

Including ventures focus-sing on applying the technol-ogy Io search and rescue andthe fishing industry， the sevenschemes will be contracted toChinese entities by thc end ofnext month， thc National Re-mote Sensing Centre of China(NRSCC) and the GalileoJoint Undertaking (GJU) att-noLinccd at a news conferencein Beijing on Jtmc 9.

NRSCC and GJU are tile respective organizations fi'om China and[he EU undertaking the Galilen Programmes.

NRSCC Director Zhang Guocheng said China will invest 200 mil-lion cares (US$244 million) in the Galileo Programme.

\"By the end of the year， two satellites will be launched to send testsignals Rn' the Galilco system，\" he said.

Ruiner Grohe， GJU's executive director， said he believes the part-nership is going well.

\"China-EU co-operation m thc Galileo Programme is important andwill be very successful in the future...，\" he said. \"Many countries areinterested in the big progranmme， but none of them is comparable withChina which has made a gmat contribution to the programme.

\"We look Forward to future co-operation between EU and China inthis programme.\"

Grohe said thc rcalization of the Galileo Programme relies on threesteps: development， deployment and operation.

At the moment the programme is in the development phase， he said.

The Galileo Programme is a civilian satellite navigation systemdeveloped by the European Commission and the European SpaceAdminislration.

Developers hope thc system will bc up and running by 2009 aftercompletion in 2008. It is aimed at building alt independent civil globalsatellite navigation system based in Europe.

Grohe said the Galiteo system will offer reliable information toaviation， navigation and transportation sectors to help ensure the safetyof people's lives. It will also provide accurate information for use byglobal search and rescue teams and has applications for policc workand border managemenl.

China.joined the Galileo Programme ill October 2003， with thc sign-lng of the Galileo Programme Co-operation Agreement on Civil GlobalSatellite Navigation.

So far， this is China's largest scientific project with foreign countries.Other international partners will also participate ill Galileo'sdevelopment. Israel has already signed an agreement.