GOI NOTE VERBALE ON BILATERAL COOPERATION

UNCLAS ROME 003127 SIPDIS DEPT FOR OES/SAT RALPH BRAIBANTI NASA FOR IRD/BALLARD PARIS FOR NASA REP FELDSTEIN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TSPA PREL IT AVIATION FAA SUBJECT: GOI NOTE VERBALE ON BILATERAL COOPERATION UNCLASSIFIED PAGE 02 ROME 03127 260739Z ¶1. EMBASSY PROVIDES INFORMAL ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF A NOTE VERBALE WHICH IS DATED APRIL 18, 2001 BUT ARRIVED ONLY A FEW WEEKS AGO. THE ITALIAN TEXT WILL BE FAXED TO OES/SAT BRAIBANTI. ¶2. BEGINNING OF INFORMAL EMBASSY TRANSLATION: THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (MFA) PRESENTS ITS COMPLIMENTS TO THE U.S. EMBASSY AND HAS THE HONOR TO REFER TO THE ATTACHED MOU, SIGNED IN ROME BY THE ITALIAN SPACE AGENCY (ASI) AND NASA ON OCTOBER 9, 1997, WHICH PROVIDES FOR THE BILATERAL COOPERATION PROGRAM BETWEEN ASI AND NASA FOR THE PROJECT, DEVELOPMENT, OPERATION, AND USE OF THREE MINI PRESSURIZED LOGISTICS MODULES FOR THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (ISS). THE DRAFT OF THIS LETTER BECAME INDISPENSABLE CONSIDERING THE TECHNICAL MODIFICATIONS MADE, DURING THE 90'S, TO THE ISS, IN WHICH ITALY PARTICIPATES BOTH AT BILATERAL LEVEL, HAVING SIGNED AN MOU WITH THE U.S. ON DECEMBER 6, 1991, AND AT MULTILATERAL LEVEL, BEING PART OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT, WHICH PROVIDES FOR THE ISS COOPERATION, SIGNED IN WASHINGTON ON JANUARY 29, 1998. TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION THE NEED TO UPDATE THE BEFORE- MENTIONED 1991 MOU AND THE 1997 MOU, WHICH, ACCORDING TO ARTICLE 2.1, IS JURIDICALLY UNDER THE 1998 INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT, RATIFIED BY ITALY BY LAW 418/2000, AND WHICH DOES NOT DEROGATE IN ANY WAY ITS RULES, THE MFA HAS THE HONOR TO PROPOSE THAT, IF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT AGREES, THIS NOTE, TO UNCLASSIFIED PAGE 03 ROME 03127 260739Z WHICH THE MOU IS ATTACHED, AND THE REPLY NOTE COULD REPRESENT AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE TWO GOVERNMENTS WHICH WILL ENTER INTO FORCE ON THE DATE OF THE REPLY NOTE. THE MFA TAKES ADVANTAGE OF THIS OCCASION TO RENEW THE SENSES OF ITS HIGHEST CONSIDERATION TO THE U.S. EMBASSY. END OF INFORMAL EMBASSY TRANSLATION. SEMBLER UNCLASSIFIED > 2002ROME03127 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED