on the Prevention of the Militarization of Outer Space
(Reference Information)

Forum's Objective

In his Millennium Summit address in the UN, New York, in September 2000, the President of the Russian Federation V.V.Putin proposed to convene in Moscow in the spring of 2001 under the auspices of the UN an International Conference on the Prevention of the Militarization of Outer Space timed to coincide with the fortieth anniversary of the first manned flight to outer space.

Comprehensive preparations are being conducted now for such a conference, which is designed to serve the two-fold purpose of addressing both the issues of preventing the introduction of weapons into outer space and the prospects for the peaceful use of outer space. These goals have also been reflected in the forum's logo - "Arms - free outer space - the arena for peaceful cooperation in the 2 1 st century".

Representatives of national outer space agencies, foreign and defence ministries, academies of science, leading outer space-related scientific and research centres, commercial and industrial companies, international and nongovernmental outer space organizations, universities, scientific and educational centres, insurance companies 'and banks engaged in outer space related activities, as well as cosmonauts and astronauts have been invited to attend the forum.

The work of the conference is scheduled to take place during four days from I I to 14 April 2001, three of them will be devoted to meetings and one will feature a tour of Yuri A.Gagarin's memorable places and of the Russian scientific and industrial space-related organizations.

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Organizers

The organizers of the forum are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Russian Airspace Agency and the Russian Tsiolkovsky Academy of Cosmonautics with participation of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia's Federation of Space Exploration, the International Astronautics Federation and the International Academy of Astronautics.

Forum's Structure

The work of the forum is planned to be organized on the following main directions:

1. Prevention of an arms race in outer space:

- the influence on strategic stability and international security of
emergence of weapons in outer space;
political and legal aspects of the prevention of an arms race in outer
space, ways to improve and develop the international legal mechanism of
regulating military activities in space;
measures to enhance transparency, predictability and confidence
building in the implementation of outer space activities;
international cooperation in the area of the prevention of an arms race
in outer space, including in the framework of the General Assembly of the UN and
the Conference on Disarmament;

- conversion-related outer space technologies.

2. Manned outer space exploration - results, perspectives, international
cooperation
scientific and applied research using manned space vehicles;
issues related to the designing of manned outer space vehicles;
control over manned outer space vehicles;

training of astronauts; medical and biological issues; evolution and philosophical problems of outer space exploration; international cooperation.

3. Outer space research, economic and applied aspects of space

exploration, international cooperation:
new achievements in outer space exploration;
the problems of outer space ecology;
the use of outer space vehicles for the benefit of economic activities
on the Earth;
the use of outer space resources for the purposes of sustainable
development;
outer space transportation systems, propulsion systems and power
plants;
outer space-related ground infrastructure;

- testing of outer space equipment.
4. Outer space activities management:
- outer space policy and the international outer space law;
- commercializing of outer space activities;
- financing of outer space activities: problems and solutions;
- insurance and outer space activities;
- outer space education.

The conference is supposed to be opened and concluded by plenary meetings with all the discussions being focused within the concurrent subjectrelated symposia arranged in a section/round table format.

The choice of a symposium to take part in is reserved for the invited side.