PREVIEW - UN-Russia Sponsored Conference On Space Law, Policy To Start In Moscow

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th September, 2018) The first UN Conference on Space Law and Policy, co-organized by the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the Russian government, and hosted by Russia's state space corporation Roscosmos, will start on Tuesday in Moscow.

The conference, which will be held at the Azimut Hotel, will bring together politicians and experts from across the globe to build on the results of 10 prior workshops on space law and policy that the United Nations has organized, in a new capacity-building effort. Director General of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin and Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Ryabkov will open the conference.

The conference seeks to draw the authorities' attention to developments in space law, and engage in knowledge-sharing about topical legal and policy changes in outer space. The conference will also seek to promote international cooperation on the peaceful uses of outer space in line with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

On Tuesday, delegates will focus on the issue of "Promoting responsible, peaceful and safe use of outer space." Matters that will be raised, such as challenges and threats to space operations, as well as maintaining a peaceful presence in space will be tackled by officials from the foreign ministries of Russia, Cuba, Switzerland, Mexico and China. During the latter part of the day, delegates will attend an expert-led panel session on legal aspects of space debris mitigation and remediation.

Space resources exploration, exploitation and utilization will be addressed on Wednesday by legal experts such as Gabriel Swiney from the US State Department and legal adviser of the Paraguayan Space Agency Hebe Romero Talavera.

The second half of the day will be divided into discussions on space traffic management, and strengthening capacity-building in space law and policy. Notable speakers will include Bernhard Schmidt-Tedd, who is in charge of UN affairs at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and Niklas Hedman, the chief of the Research Section Office at UNOOSA.

The outcome of the conference will be summarized on Thursday, the last day of the event, by the co-organizers at a closing ceremony. Then, preregistered participants of the conference will visit the Gagarin Research and Test Cosmonaut Training Center in the Moscow Region, a facility responsible for training cosmonauts for space missions.�