June 18, 2009, Updated September 24, 2012

Jun. 18 – Italy and Israel have agreed to cooperate on common research and space missions. The agreement was signed at the Paris Air Show in la Bourget earlier this week between the Israel Space Agency and the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana.

The two countries plan to cooperate in the areas of space research, including the exchange of professors and researchers, space science and exploration, earth observation research and applications, space communications and use of ground equipment. Both countries are currently involved in a joint mission for hyper spectral earth observation.

The agreement was signed by Israeli Minister of Science and Technology Professor Daniel Hershkowitz, Dr. Zvi Kaplan, head of the Israel Space Agency, and his Italian counterpart M. Enrico Saggesse, head of Italy’s Agenzia Spaziale Italiana. Israel already has cooperation agreements with France, the US, Canada, India, Germany, Ukraine, Russia and Holland.

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