Dr. Simonetta di Pippo, Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA), was in Geneva, Switzerland, between 24 and 27 June 2014 to meet with high level representatives of sister agencies of the United Nations system, other international organizations in Geneva and with the Government of Switzerland.
She explored opportunities for collaboration in the sector of space tools and applications. The meetings helped assess the requirements for support from those agencies in the use of space data and products in the realisation of their respective mandates, while at the same time raise the visibility of the Office, its programmes and its initiatives.
Ms Di Pippo met with representatives of the CERN, GCOS, GEO, ITU, ODA, OCHA, UNECE, UNEP, UNISDR, UNITAR/UNOSAT, UNOG, WHO, the Swiss Space Centre of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and of the Government of Switzerland. Short-term actions were agreed-upon to develop joint initiatives with some of the agencies visited and to ensure a regular and periodic communication.
Ms Pippo furthermore discussed with the institutions how concrete partnerships will consolidate the way to the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan, in March 2015, and what role the Office and of the Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space Affairs should have in the development of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in support to the post-2015 Development Agenda.
