United Nations, Asia and Navigational Network

The third UN conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space was held in 1999. During this conference, it was asserted that ‘there is a need to improve the efficiency and security of transport, search and rescue, geodesy and other activities by promoting the enhancement of, universal access to and compatibility of, space-based navigation and positioning systems’. As a reac­tion to this, in 2001 the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) established the Action Team on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) under the chairmanship of Italy and the USA. India, China, Japan and Malaysia were the action member states in this team (38 member states and 15 intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations).[229] Subsequently, the UN

along with the USA organised an international meeting on the use and applications of global navigation satellites in Vienna in December 2004. Here, West Asian states like Egypt, Syria and Turkey were also present. The meeting addressed various issues relating to the institutional framework with relating to service providers and made recommendations regarding specific global navigation satellite systems applications. The chief recommendation was for the creation of an international committee on global navigation satellite systems (ICG).[230] This committee was formed in Vienna in December 2005, and its members work on voluntary basis as part of an informal body for the purpose of promoting and cooperating on matters of mutual interest related to civil satellite-based navigation and value-added services, as well as compatibility and interoperability among the GNSS systems, while increasing their use to support sustainable development, particularly in developing countries.[231] Various meetings of ICG have been held till date—India hosted the second meeting (2007). The navigational systems of India, China and Japan are part of these arrangements. Asian states are playing their role to enhance compatibility and interoperability among current and future system providers.[232]