Minister Valditara inaugurates the "Looking Beyond" exhibition
Inaugurated today at the OECD headquarters in Paris, in the presence of the Minister of Education and Merit Giuseppe Valditara, the review of satellite images "Looking Beyond", promoted by the Farnesina in collaboration with the Italian Space Agency and Telespazio/e-GEOS.
Through a journey of photographs captured by the Italian COSMO-SkyMed satellite constellation, the exhibition – jointly organized by the Italian Embassy in Paris and the Italian Representation to International Organizations – offers an opportunity to reflect on the contribution of satellite observation technologies to the Earth, for the protection of the natural and cultural heritage and for the prevention of disasters.
Present at the inauguration were the Ministers, Ambassadors and delegates of the 38 member countries of the Parisian Organization and of the 4 acceding countries (Brazil, Croatia, Peru and Romania), who arrived in the French capital for the ministerial meeting of the OECD Education Committee, as well as over fifty students and professors representing the Italian School "Leonardo da Vinci" and the Italian Section at the Liceo Internazionale "Honoré de Balzac" in Paris.
In his speech, Minister Valditara recalled the importance of the space sector for Italy, which will host the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Milan in 2024 and also underlined how our scientific capabilities represent a competitive advantage in the candidacy of Rome for EXPO 2030. "The participation of students and teachers today - declared the Minister - is an important sign of the common commitment to increasingly involve the new generations in the sectors of science, technology, innovation and space".
For her part, Ambassador Emanuela D'Alessandro highlighted how Telespazio's activity represents a significant example of Italian-French collaboration in the space sector - being the company owned by the Italian Leonardo and the French Thales in the context of the "Space Alliance” which also includes Thales Alenia Space – as well as the strong dynamism that characterizes the Italian industry in the sector.
Ambassador Luca Sabbatucci, Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Paris, in recalling the importance of space and training for greater inclusion of young people in public policies, mentioned Italy's active role in multilateral bodies, with a view to increase ambitions in the space sector and to strengthen the capacity of countries to respond to major global challenges.
The exhibition, created by the Directorate General for the Promotion of the Country System of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, is part of the initiatives for the integrated promotion of Italy and Made in Italy and will be exhibited in over 50 countries, in view of the celebrations of the National Space Day scheduled for December 16.