Beijing, Dec 04: India and China have for the first time decided to share their expertise in the peaceful use of the outer space by exploring ways to cooperate in remote sensing applications, a senior Indian space official said here today. The first meeting of the India-China joint working group (JWG) on space has just concluded here with a high-level Indian delegation, led by the director of National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) R R Navalgund, describing it as "excellent".
"The first round of the JWG was held under two bilateral agreements for the peaceful use of the outer space signed in 1991 and 2001," Navalgund told reporters here.
During former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji's visit to India in January, 2001, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the China National Space Administration (CNSA) on cooperation in the peaceful use of outer space.
"Some of the broad areas in which we (would) like to have cooperation relates to the applications of remote sensing in the areas of crop production forecasting, land and water resources management and natural resources," Navalgund said.
He noted that India has emerged as a world leader in using remote sensing data and this fact has been well appreciated world-wide, also in China.
Bureau Report