He made the call at a function to mark the 50th anniversary of the first manned flight in outer space and the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS) in Vienna recently.
In an emailed statement to the ANTARA correspondent in London on Thursday, third secretary of the Indonesian Embassy in Vienna Luna Amanda Sidqi said the Secretariat Office for Outer Space based in Vienna was organizing a special function to mark the 50th anniversary of the first manned flight in outer space by Yuri Gagarin in April 1961.
In the course of the commemoration, the organizing committee is also holding an outer space technology expo at the Vienna International Center on June 1-30.
Ambassador I Gusti Agung Wesaka Puja went on to say outer space technology had grown rapidly but it had not been optimally used to help developing countries.
The Indonesian delegation to the event touched on developments in the use of outer space technology in Indonesia since the 1970s when the country launched Palapa telecommunication satellite in 1976.
By launching the Palapa satellite, Indonesia was the first developing nation to operate a satellite on its own, the delegation said.
The operation of the satellite had strengthened unity and cohesion of the Indonesian nation which was made up of various ethnic groups, and religious adherents inhabiting thousands of islands in the country.
In addition, it also helped efforts to mitigate the impact of natural disasters which frequently affected the country.
Looking ahead, the delegation said Indonesia needed to benefit from any opportunities to increase the use of outer space-based technology to support sustainable development through tele-education, tele-medicine and to provide information for climate change mitigation efforts.
Indonesia underscored the need of enhanced international cooperation in the use of outer space-based technology for various purposes such as remote sensing and disaster management, the delegation said.(*)
(S012/HAJM/a014 )
Editor: Ruslan Burhani
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
