Jitendra Singh the Union Minister said, in the light of the Indian philosophy of Vasudeva Kutumbakam which means – the World is one family, India wants to share the fruits of space development to reach all countries and bring closer cooperation between governments and private entities in the space sector. He said, with this idea, India has recently brought landmark reforms leading to policy initiatives to tap the best of our research potential as well as participation of the private sector.
The Minister said, India is also keenly promoting development of start-ups in the space sector to facilitate entry of foreign government and private sector entities. In this regard, India has established a dedicated organisation called Indian Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre or IN-SPACe which is tasked with the objective of hand-holding our nascent private entities in the Space sector, he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh recalled that among the several pioneering initiatives of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed is the Abu Dhabi Space Debate which reflects his commitment and vision for the Space sector. He said that much of this vision has already become a reality with the UAE sending a space mission to Mars orbit, thereby becoming the sixth such country demonstrating its prowess in the space sector and on top of that, the UAE became the only second country, other than India, to successfully launch a Mars orbiter in its very first attempt.
The Minister also congratulated the UAE for planning its second human space mission next year by sending four astronauts in space for six months. The launch of Rashid Rover, UAE’s Moon Mission in the near future, and creation of the Space fund are milestones which reflect the commitments and determination of the UAE to excel in the Space sector. He shared that India’s active space partnership with the UAE dates back to 2017, when our PSLV launched UAE’s first nanosatellite – ‘Nayif-1’ meant for collecting environmental space data.
Dr Jitendra Singh appreciated the thrust of the Abu Dhabi Space Debate for building the role of Governments in empowering space business and technology. He said, the list of discussions in ADSD on the role of the space sector to solve the climate issues, bringing accountability to environmental commitments, threats to and from space to the political discourse and making the presence of private sector and space innovation people driven that serve humankind; are very relevant to our time and are eye-opening topics, setting apart this initiative from any other such gathering in Space sector in the past.
Dr Jitendra Singh concluded by saying that he is confident that the Abu Dhabi Space Debate will grow in stature in the coming years and become a pre-eminent platform for discussions in space related matters and take India-UAE space cooperation into an entirely different and much higher spatial orbit. Lastly, as India assumed the chairmanship of G-20 on Dec 1, the Minister once again welcomed the UAE to the G-20 Summit and G-20 meetings in the period of India’s chairmanship.
