Four UN-SPIDER Regional Support Offices officially launched in signing ceremony

During the 52nd Session of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs signed cooperation agreements to establish UN-SPIDER Regional Support Offices with the I.R. Iran, Nigeria, Romania, and the Asian Disaster Reduction Center. The establishment of the Regional Support Offices was agreed by the United Nations General Assembly in its Resolution 61/110, stating that UNOOSA should "work closely with regional and national centres of expertise in the use of space technology in disaster management to form a network of regional support offices for implementing the activities of the [UN-SPIDER] programme in their respective regions in a coordinated manner and to take advantage of the important experience and capabilities being offered, and to be offered, by Member States, particularly by developing countries". These four Regional Support Offices will contribute to ensuring that all countries are able to access and use space-based information to support disaster management activities. Additional offers to host a Regional Support Office have been put forward by Algeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa and Ukraine.