For information only - not an official document
UNIS/OS/397
17 June 2010
Agreement Signed to Establish UN-SPIDER Office in Beijing
VIENNA, 17 June (UN Information Service) - On the margins of the fifty-third session of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, H.E. Ambassador Hu, Xiaodi, representing the Government of China, Mazlan Othman, Deputy-Director General of the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV) and Director of the Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) signed an agreement to establish a new office of the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER) in Beijing, China.
During the signing ceremony, Ms. Othman said: "Today's signing of the Host Country Agreement and the subsequent opening of the UN-SPIDER office in Beijing marks another landmark in the further development of the UN-SPIDER programme, contributing to ensure that collectively we can ensure that all countries are able to access and use space-based information to support disaster risk management and emergency response."
The UN-SPIDER office in Beijing will contribute to the implementation of UN-SPIDER, in particular by raising awareness and supporting Governments, international and regional organizations through the provision of technical advice in the use and access of space-based information for disaster risk management and emergency response.
The UN-SPIDER programme already has staff in Vienna, Austria, where UNOOSA is based, and also a UN-SPIDER office in Bonn, Germany.
For further information, please contact:
Jamshid Gaziyev
Associate Programme Officer, UNOOSA
Telephone: (+43-1) 26060-4958
Email: jamshid.gaziyev [at] unoosa.org
