Mar. 20 – Italy and the United States signed an important agreement for the promotion and development of cooperation in the space sector. The agreement opens up new opportunities in the economy, science and technology fields. Coincidently, the agreement was signed at the same time as the celebrations for the first 50 years of cooperation in space between the two countries. The Italian Ambassador to the United States, Claudio Bisogniero and Kerri-Ann Jones, Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs at the State Department are the signatories. The ceremony was also attended by the President of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), Enrico Saggese, and the Deputy Administrator of NASA, Lori Beth Garver. The framework agreement aims at facilitating and simplifying the cooperation procedures between the two space agencies, ASI and NASA, as well as with other agencies identified in the Agreement: the National Ocean Observation Administration (NOAA ) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
