Madame Chair, Ladies and Gentlemen,

When you look to Norway you will see a nation living by the sea and off the sea. Norway has jurisdiction over a larger ocean area than any other nation in Europe – we have a large fleet of fishing vessels, an important offshore production of oil and gas and we are still today one of the worlds’ largest maritime nations. These factors will of course influence our requirements for space services, and we try to allocate public funds accordingly. And because of this I am also very pleased with yesterday’s agreement regarding the Galileosatprogramme.

I would like to direct attention to some of the items on today's agenda. The resolution on the relation between ESA and The European Union is one of several steps to further develop the relationship between the two organisations. I hope that we fairly soon will see a Framework Agreement between the Agency and the European Union. Norway is not a member of the European Union, but we are partner in the European Economic Area Agreement and we participate in other EU programmes such as the Framework Programmes of the European Community for Research and Technological Development. For a country like Norway it is important that we may actively participate in activities under the Framework Agreement on equal terms with nations being members both in ESA and the European Union.

The Commission in Brussels has produced a Green Paper that will lead to a White Paper with an Action Plan to be presented to EU Parliament. I believe it is fairly certain that the Convent of the European Union will include space in a future treaty. The future negotiations with the European Union may be difficult for the Agency. We should utilize the capabilities of ESA in any new pattern for organizing the space activities in Europe.

The International Space Station project has been through periods with budgetary and technological difficulties. We were all stunned by the tragic accident of space shuttle Columbia with loss of seven lives. Hopefully the investigators will find what caused the accident, so that necessary measures can be taken to prevent such an accident from happening again. The present situation has increased the importance of the ATV launched by ARIANE-5. On the previous Ministerial Meeting in Edinburgh some funds were blocked. It seems to me that the conditions for the first unblocking now are met.

Many years ago it was decided to develop the first launcher in the Ariane-family, the first truly European launcher. The installations in Kourou were constructed simultaneously. The project gave Europe independent access to space. From 1979, 159 Ariane rockets have been launched from Kourou.

However, Ariane-5 is in severe difficulties due to technical faults occurring in a number of flights. At the same time, competing launchers benefit from protected institutional markets. If we fail to bring the Ariane-5 project forwards, Europe will loose its independent access to space. Few seriously believe that ESA can exist as a credible space agency without Ariane-5. It is worthwhile taking note of the fact that the United States, the Russian Federation, Japan, China and India all have independent access to space.

Through negotiations the Director General and his team have come up with a set of agreements that secure Ariane-5 financially. After this Ministerial Meeting, we must address the requirements of other Agency programmes. The funds allocated to Ariane-5 must not be to the detriment of other ESA programmes. I would also like to bring attention to the fact that the difficulties with Ariane-5 have caused severe problems for the mandatory science programme. I assume that problems related to several programmes in ESA will be on the agenda on future meetings in the Council in the Agency.

Madame Chair, I would like to conclude my statement by expressing the hope that we will see positive results from this Ministerial Meeting.

Thank you.