Mr. President,

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you as President of this historic UN conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, which is being held as the humanity is preparing to step into the next millennium. I take this opportunity to express gratitude to all distinguished delegations of this august forum for the great honour done to you and to our country in electing you as the President. Your past experience in reaching the benefits of outer space, as the leader of Indian space program and your proven record in steering the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space during the crucial preparatory phase of this conference augers well for the success of this important global event. My delegation also congratulates the other distinguished elected members of the Bureau whose experience and skills assure us of success of this conference. Mr. President, on behalf of the Indian delegation and on my own behalf, I would also like to commend the untiring efforts and pragmatic role of members of the Office for Outer Space Affairs, which is the Executive Secretariat for the conference, and its dynamic Director, Dr N. Jasentuliyana, whose valuable experience and skills are assets to the Conference. On behalf of Government of India, I express my gratitude for the Government and the people of Austria, for hosting this Conference in the beautiful city of Vienna and extending us their warm hospitality, which has become legendary.

Mr. President,

Since the last UN Conference on Space, which was held in 1982, the world has witnessed tremendous developments in different branches of space technology and its applications. Not merely that applications of space have expanded, but significantly, several more countries too have begun to participate in space endeavours and derive benefits from space technology. Above all, space provided a new perspective to humanity to view the planet Earth as a total system. With its ability to integrate diverse aspects which affect quality of life, space inspires a new vision to humanity, unfolding new vistas for cooperation and progress towards a common destiny.

Notwithstanding such advances in technology and applications of the current century, humanity is still at cross roads, looking at the challenges for future assuming formidable proportions. Advances in technology while improving the pace of development, have also been increasing gaps in society - between the rich and the poor, the haves and the havenots, and the educated and the deprived. As the technology changes are becoming more rapid, these gaps are also widening further. Such rapid advancements in technology and its applications, if not properly integrated into the entire structure of society, pose the danger of isolating large sections of society, thus making human civilization fragile. Another major challenge before the humanity today is unsustainable exploitation of natural resources and consumption patterns, which if not reversed, can lead to irreversible damage to earth's environment and ecology. A paradigm shift of global values towards preservation of the integrity of Planet Earth and its environment, recognising its delicate balance and vulnerability to human action needs no emphasis. Global welfare goals, assuring a certain basic minimum quality of life to allsections of humanity should be the fundamental part of our vision for human development for the next century.

Mr. President,

The information revolution unleashed by the advances in Space communications, microelectronics, optics and computer technologies provide unprecedented opportunities for access to knowledge and for rapid connectivity across the globe. However, use of these developments should be tempered with the goal of transitioning to greater social equity and cultural enrichment while pursuing the objectives of economic progress. In short, space should become a strong instrument to meet the challenge of the next millennium, namely, finding sustainable paths of technology has brought such an intense development. No other awareness of our interdependence on a global scale as the space technology. Indeed, few other technologies are as potent as space to preserve that integrity and to assist humanity in overcoming the divisions through human connectivity at a global level and through enhancement of awareness of 'the global sustainability' by continuously mirroring 'the state of health' of this planet. Therefore, the fundamental need for the global community at this juncture is to reiterate the value of space as a common heritage of humankind and to reinforce its use for the benefit of all countries, particularly the developing countries. Humankind can face the challenge of the next millennium only through the spread of education, for which space technology serves as a powerful tool. The engine of economy can be accelerated through commercialisation, but it has to be guided by the consciousness for bridging inequalities and ensuring certain basic minimum level of quality of life to the deprived sections of human society.

Mr. President,

India is one of those developing countries fortunate to have realised the potential of space technology from the very early times of evolution of global space endeavours. Vision of India for Space is to make it a strong tool for national development. Starting with the scientific pursuits in the fields of astronomy and atmospheric sciences, and conducting unique sociological experiments like the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE), India has come a long way in developing a multifaceted and multidimensional space program, which is self reliant and applications driven. India now builds its own state of the art satellite systems INSAT and IRS, and has launch capabilities. Operational space systems have been established for services in meteorology, telecommunications, television broadcasting and generating information for natural resources management. A wide range of applications which are of societal value, have been developed.  This societal focus of Indian space program will continue and grow stronger in future. Recognising that Space programs cannot be developed in isolation with other national institutions, strong linkages were developed with industry and academic institutions who participate in the national space program. In areas such as telecommunications, television and value added services for Remote Sensing, where commercialisation could lead to sustainable growth, economic returns and efficient services to users, facilitation for commercial services through private sector is undertaken. International cooperation has been the hallmark of Indian space program, which endeavoured to enhance cooperation with several space agencies and institutions around the globe.  As a follow up of UNISPACE-82 conference, India has been operating,, a programme for sharing experience in space with other developing countries, providing opportunities for training in space technology applications for persons from other developing nations.

Mr. President,

A major initiative taken by India to promote regional cooperation was to host the Centre for Space Science and Technology Education for Asia and the Pacific, affiliated to the United Nations. The centre provides high quality education in the fields of remote sensing and GIS, satellite communications, meteorology and space sciences. With 14 countries of the Asia Pacific region along with the United Nations, governing and managing the centre, India provides technical and administrative support to the centre as a host country. Beginning in November 1995, this centre has conducted 7 post-graduate courses, benefiting 126 students from 25 countries. It may be noted that India has been substantially funding this Centre. This clearly demonstrates India's commitment to implement UNISPACE-82 recommendations. Mr. President, it is imperative that an appropriate mechanism is established within the United Nations system to ensure that regular and adequate funding is made available. Such funding is essential for implementing, on a sustainable basis, the activities of the Regional Centres for Space Science and Technology Education. Mr. President, India is one of those countries, who believes that there is significant scope for enhancing the benefits through international cooperation in this field. This can be strengthened by effectively using various existing fora in this field, by maintaining coordination among them and by constantly renewing their roles in tune with the changes in the environment. I wish to bring to the attention of distinguished delegates that under the aegis of UN-ESCAP, the Second Ministerial Conference on Space Technology and Applications will be held during November this year at New Delhi. This major event will review the status of the regional space applications programme emerging out of the First Ministerial Conference, which was held in September 1994 at Beijing, China. Mr. President, it will be pertinent to note that this ministerial conference will provide first opportunity to review the recommendations of UNISPACE-III at the regional level and would also help in initiating specific actions within Asia Pacific region through UNESCAP's regional programme. Mr. President, viewing from all aspects, UNISPACE-III is going to be a unique event to debate on the theme "Space Benefits for Humanity in the 21st Century". Projecting the vectorial progress in technology which enabled the human exploration of space in the last few decades, the human habitation in space is an inevitable prospect for future. As space technology evolves in pace with several other associated technologies, space is bound to play a major role in the human kinds transition to deal with the future cognitive technical systems. As a backbone for information infrastructure, as an environment for new scientific pursuits, as a means for conveying the health of individuals and environment on a daily basis, as a medium for energy transfer, as a challenging frontier for new technology developments and as an arena for future habitation and industrialisation, space is going to significantly influence the destiny of humanity. UNISPACE-III is a unique opportunity for the global community to enhance the role of space for global development and welfare. A concerted and cooperative approach to capacity building through education in the developing countries, a sound base for monitoring and protection of environment through cooperative space systems and a policy environment that would strike a balance between commercialism and means to meet societal priorities are important issues which affect large sections of humanity. In addition, international cooperation could be strengthened to address broader humanitarian needs such as disaster management where space technology can play an important role. 'The widespread development of peaceful uses of outer space by all countries will be possible only with unhindered access to technology and knowledge on a global basis. Global cooperation in this regard should be further strengthened to remove impediments to the access of technology, equipment, materials and knowledge for use in peaceful and developmental activities.

Mr. President,

Indian delegation takes this opportunity to compliment the COPUOS and its Subcommittees for their excellent contributions for the preparatory process and looks forward to a comprehensive set of recommendations, meeting the goals laid down for the conference.

Thank you, Mr. President.