ITALY WANTS TO SEE GPS-GALILEO SIGNED AT U.S.-EU

UNCLAS ROME 001871 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR EUR/ERA, EUR/WE, AND OES/SAT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TSPA TSPL IT EUN SUBJECT: ITALY WANTS TO SEE GPS-GALILEO SIGNED AT U.S.-EU SUMMIT REF: STATE 102745 ¶1. (SBU) TRANSPORT MINISTRY FOREIGN AFFAIRS ADVISOR EMILIO MARAINI TOLD SCI COUNSELOR MAY 12 THAT ITALY SHARES U.S. CONCERNS ABOUT COMPLETING THE GPS-GALILEO AGREEMENT IN TIME FOR SIGNATURE AT THE JUNE 26 SUMMIT. AFTER SOME DISCUSSION OF THE OUTSTANDING ISSUES (AND WITH SCI COUNSELOR STILL IN THE ROOM),MARAINI CALLED MARIO CAPORALE, ITALIAN SPACE AGENCY EXPERT AND ITALY'S REPRESENTATIVE AT THE MAY 13 MEETING IN BRUSSELS. HE TOLD CAPORALE OF U.S. CONCERNS, STRESSING THAT THESE WERE SHARED BY ROME. MARAINI TOLD CAPORALE THAT IT WAS IMPERATIVE THAT THE TECHNICAL WORK BE COMPLETED BY MAY 25. CORPORALE RESPONDED THAT HE EXPECTED THAT IT WOULD BE, AND THAT HE WOULD USE HIS EFFORTS TOWARD THAT GOAL. ¶2. (SBU) SEPARATELY, RESEARCH MINISTRY DIPLOMATIC ADVISOR MARIO POLVERINI TOLD SCI COUNSELOR ON MAY 11 THAT HE WOULD RAISE THE GALILEO POINTS WITH THE ITALIAN SPACE AGENCY, AND ALSO USE THEM IN THE NEXT MEETING OF THE EU RESEARCH COUNCIL. VISIT ROME'S CLASSIFIED WEBSITE: HTTP://WWW.STATE.SGOV.GOV/P/EUR/ROME/INDEX.CF M SEMBLER NNNN 2004ROME01871 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED