French President’s state visit to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam : Space component in the drive to combat climate change - CNES and VAST sign cooperation agreement

A cooperation agreement was signed by CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall and the President of VAST (the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology), Prof Chau Van Minh, in Hanoi on Tuesday 6 September, in the presence of the Presidents of France and Vietnam. The agreement is on the use of outer space for peaceful uses, and the promotion of space applications for the economic, social and scientific development of both countries.

This agreement confirms the intention of France and Vietnam to further their space cooperation, particularly in the fields of satellite remote sensing and its applications, space sciences and space exploration, small satellites, and research and technologies. Its aim is to coordinate CNES/VAST cooperation activities and define their governing conditions and to facilitate staff exchanges in order to forge closer links between the two countries.

France and Vietnam already have a long-standing and fruitful relationship, on account of the trust built up through the launch of several Vietnamese satellites from Guiana Space Centre. Ariane 5 placed two of the country’s telecommunications satellites into orbit—Vinasat-1 in 2008, and Vinasat-2 in 2012. These were followed in 2013 by Vega’s launch of Vietnam’s first Earth observation satellite, VNREDSat-1A, which was made in France.

During his state visit, France’s President was accompanied by the President of CNES to Vietnam National University in Hanoi, where they reiterated the challenges of COP22 in Marrakech this November and expressed France’s desire to work more closely with Vietnam in using space assets to tackle climate change, in line with the New Delhi Declaration that came into effect this May.

Following the signing ceremony, Jean-Yves Le Gall said: “Professor Chau Van Minh and I are very pleased and particularly proud of the agreement that we have just signed. The formalization of our cooperation with Vietnam had already been suggested many times, due to our two countries’ desire to work together more. This has now become a reality through the signing of today’s agreement, which provides a clear roadmap for our cooperation that will centre mainly around tackling climate change.”

_____
Contacts
Pascale Bresson    Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 75 39    pascale.bresson@cnes.fr
Julien Watelet    Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 78 37    julien.watelet@cnes.fr

cp152-2016_-_visite_pr_vietnam_va.pdf (pdf - 219.93 KB)