Dr. Tillmann Mohr
Chairman of CEOS
EUMETSAT
The 13th CEOS Plenary is to be held in Stockholm, Sweden, from 10 to
12 November, 1999. As current Chair of CEOS, EUMETSAT is
hosting the meeting, in association with the Swedish National Space
Board (SNSB).
The first and second announcements for the Plenary have been sent to all CEOS Members and Associates, and the final announcement -complete with papers - is due to be mailed at the end of September.
It will be my pleasure and privilege to chair this Plenary meeting,
which promises to be interesting and with issues of substance. One of
the principal points, which has been a priority in recent years, will
be CEOS's participation in the Integrated Global Observing Strategy
(IGOS). The fourth meeting of the IGOS Partnership will take place
during the course of the Plenary. At this meeting CEOS will be
represented by its current chairman, the past chairman (Dr. K.Kasturirangan
of ISRO), the next chairman (Dr. Marcio Barbosa of
Brazil's INPE) and Mr Robert Winokur, the chairman of the CEOS Strategic
Implementation Team (SIT). During 1999 significant
progress has been made in developing the IGOS Partnership into an effective
instrument of cooperation. Certainly, the 3rd meeting, held in
June in Rome, clearly showed that all the partners are now engaged
in the activities of IGOS.
The activities of the Working Groups are, of course important, and their
future needs will be a focus for the Plenary. Indeed, one of my
aims during this year of Chairmanship is to raise the profile of the
working groups, and to give more attention to their work and
recommendations. We will need, also to consider any follow-up actions
CEOS needs to take in the light of UNISPACE III.
I trust that I have said enough to indicate that it will be a three
day period full of worthwhile discussions, added to which we are arranging
- together with our Swedish friends- social events which will serve
as recompense for your efforts !
Welcome to Stockholm and, please do not forget to make early hotel bookings: Stockholm, even at this time of the year, is full of visitors.
News Highlight
Information on the IGOS Partnership is available at: http://www.igospartners.org
Contributions for future issues of the CEOS Newsletter from the CEOS Members and Associates, and subscriptions to the CEOS Newsletter, please contact CEOS Japan Secretariat : ceosj@eoc.nasda.go.jp http://jaxa.ceos.org/ceosnews_menu_e.html
