On the morning of December 10, 2019, the Meeting of Directors of the Regional Centres for Space Science and Technology Education (Affiliated to the United Nations) was held at Beihang University. Mr. Luc St Pierre, representative of the UNOOSA, Mr. Awni Kasawneh, Director of RCSSTEWA, Mr. Ganiyu Ishola Agbaje, Director of ARCSSTE-E, Mr. Sergio Camacho, Director of CRECTEALC, Mr. Anas EMRAN, Director of CRASTE-LF, Mr. Gao Guozhu from the Law school of Beihang University attended the meeting. The meeting was hosted by Mr. Weng Jingnong, Executive Director of RCSSTEAP.
The meeting held a heated discussion on topics like how to promote the application of space technology, accelerate the cooperation and development of each Regional Centre, cultivate higher-level space technology application talents, realize “space 2030” and team building, etc.
Mr. Weng Jingnong, Executive Director of the RCSSTEAP, mentioned that in the past five (5) years, the Regional Centres have received strong support from the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA). Similarly, the Regional Centres should also support the development of the UNOOSA within their capabilities. In the past five years, RCSSTEAP has received a lot of support from the Chinese government and Beihang University, and has established the development mode of “UGII”, which is hosted by University, supported by Chinese Government, work with related International Organizations (UNOOSA, APSCO, etc.) and Industry/Enterprise Participation. Then, Mr. Weng Jingnong made a brief introduction on the degree education, short-term training programmes, talent training, professional curriculum setting, excellent participants and other aspects of the Centre. This year, the Centre will add the Space Science and Environment as a new major of MASTA Program, to better serve the space technology applications and development of Member States.
During the meeting, Mr. Gao Guozhu made a preliminary discussion on the draft of the Declaration of Alliance of Regional Centres Affiliated to the United Nations on Further Strengthening Cooperation and Capacity Building (referred to as Beijing Initiative) with the Directors of the Regional Centres. The draft includes cooperation mechanism, organization setting, capacity building, cooperation projects, communication frequency, activity development, training project, talent training, teaching material construction and other aspects of the Alliance of Regional Centres (ARC).
The Directors of the Regional Centres from various countries expressed their gratitude to the RCSSTEAP for hosting the conference, and mentioned that in the past five years, the Centre has trained space technology application talents from many countries based on Beihang University. After returning home, they have all taken important positions in the relevant space agencies in various countries, providing strong support for the development of space technology for each country.
The meeting enabled the Directors of each Centre to have a clearer plan for the cooperation direction, cooperation mechanism and content of the ARC hereafter, and laid a good foundation for future development.
