Fourth steering committee meeting: green light for the international call for projects

Published on 09/10/2020

While SCO meetings continue to be virtual, progress is no less tangible. On Thursday 17 September 2020, 26 participants from 19 member organisations logged in to the fourth international steering committee meeting chaired by the Italian space agency, ASI.

[fr]

Rome © CNES 2020, Distribution Airbus DS

After reminding participants of the ongoing structuring actions, all the members were invited to pursue development of their national SCO branch, to provide input for the international SCO web pages, and to integrate these pages in the websites of their national administrations and institutes.

SCO Charter

The priority is to draft the SCO Charter, initiated by UNOOSA. A Master's student has therefore been recruited to conduct a comparative study on current international charters and agreements similar to the SCO initiative. Several workshops and conferences will be organised by the UNOOSA-led team in order to finalise the drafting of the Charter in June 2021 for signature by partners by the end of 2021.

International call for projects

The session’s highlight was the 2021 call for projects, overseen by two United Nations organisations, UNOOSA and UNDP. Issued on 18 September 2020, this call for projects remains open until 30 November 2020. It is designed to select 15 to 22 projects promoting the diversity of use cases and themes.

The steering committee is looking for volunteers to set up four open webinars designed to provide applicants with information and support. Shortlisted by an international selection committee, the chosen projects will be announced in late January 2021, during the fifth steering committee meeting.

To access the call for projects and the application form, please click here.

Expanding SCO

. The General Secretariat is currently discussing SCO membership with the Russian space agency, Roscosmos.

. Morocco will sign the joint SCO declaration of interest in the coming weeks.

. Mexico is currently working on setting up thematic working groups.

. Greece is preparing to publish its national web page on the SCO website.

This 4th steering committee meeting was chaired by the Italian space agency, ASI, which has supported SCO from the outset. Already heavily involved in promoting the use of Earth observation data in the transalpine economic fabric, ASI is also preparing to develop the national consortium, SCO Italy.