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After
months of negotiations, the United States, Europe,
Russia, Canada, and Japan successfully reached an
Intergovernmental Agreement for the ISS. The signing
ceremony took place on January 29, 1998, at DoS in
Washington, D.C., and drew considerable press coverage.
On
September 22, 1998, President Clinton and Japanese
Prime Minister Obuchi signed the U.S.-Japan joint
statement on GPS, pledging that the United States
and Japan would work together to promote broad and
effective use of GPS. The joint statement was the
result of 2 years of discussions between the two governments
on issues related to expanding civilian use of GPS.
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Cooperation
between the United States and Japan—the world's two largest
producers
of GPS user equipment—is expected to promote international
acceptance of GPS for civilian applications and help create
a stable international playing field so that U.S. industry
can take full advantage of a rapidly growing multibillion
dollar market. International negotiations on GPS remained
a high priority at DoS, with ongoing negotiations with Europe
and Russia, as well as with Japan.
DoS
continued to promote foreign policy and national security
interests as the interagency lead in considering exports
of U.S.-origin commercial remote-sensing systems. DoS controls
the export of all U.S. Munitions List items, including remote-sensing
satellites and Earth stations under the Arms Export Control
Act.
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The
International Space Station (ISS) presents the opportunity
for several nations to work together toward a singular
goal. |
In
FY 1998, DoS concluded a bilateral Technical Safeguard Agreement
(TSA) with the Ukraine and began discussions toward a bilateral
TSA with Russia and a trilateral TSA with Russia and Kazakhstan.
These agreements are designed to protect U.S. satellite
and missile technology and allow U.S. industry to launch
satellites from foreign locations.
In
addition, DoS served as the lead agency for U.S. delegations
to meetings of the INTELSAT and INMARSAT member countries,
successfully gaining agreement to privatize INMARSAT and
restructure INTELSAT. It also provided policy guidance to
COMSAT, the U.S. signatory to the organizations. DoS officials
also promoted access to overseas markets for commercial
satellite companies, including negotiating a landmark bilateral
satellite services agreement with Argentina, and worked
to resolve complex problems of orbit and spectrum availability.
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