Dr Jitendra addresses UAE summit, describes India as key global player

Abu Dhabi (UAE), Dec 05: Union Minister of State, Dr Jitendra Singh Monday described India as a key Global Player in the Space sector and reiterated that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is keen to take its Space cooperation with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to newer heights.
Addressing the Opening Ceremony of the UAE summit, “Abu Dhabi Space Debate,” Dr Jitendra Singh acknowledged the presence of the UAE President, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed at the Opening Ceremony and conveyed PM Modi’s warm greetings to him and the people of UAE.
Dr Jitendra Singh is leading the official Indian delegation to United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the “Abu Dhabi Space Debate,” a 2-day international meet.
Apart from Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, and diplomats from several countries attended the opening ceremony.
Dr Jitendra Singh greeted the people of the United Arab Emirates on the occasion of the celebration of 51 years of the formation of this great country on behalf of the people of India.
He said, another laudable achievement for the UAE this year is completion of the silver jubilee of its space odyssey with several golden milestones.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, the development of the Space sector is one of the priority areas for the leaders of both India and the UAE and added that India started its space journey seven decades back from a scratch and is today acknowledged to be a leading space power.
He said the highlight of India’s journey has been its thrust on indigenous development through dedication and hard work of its scientists guided by the commitment of the leaders.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, the indigenously developed Space sector of India and the fast growing Space sector of the UAE have a lot of complementaries that can be harnessed. He said, if we want to ensure that the Space remains a sector to serve our shared humanity, it is important to bring all the stakeholders together to discuss and deliberate about the Space and in this regard, this platform has the potential to shape the future of the Space sector.
The Minister said, the Indian space industry today is renowned across the globe for two things – reliability and economy. India is proud to have the maximum success ratio in the world for its flagship space launching vehicle – Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle or PSLV. Just a few weeks back, India’s PSLV launched 36 satellites including for countries from both the developed and developing world, he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, India’s other flagship space programmes also include Human Space Flight Centre or what we call in India as Gaganyaan project under which we are planning to send our first crewed flight in space in 2024.
Dr Jitendra Singh recalled that among the several pioneering initiatives of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed is the Abu Dhabi Space Debate which reflects his commitment and vision for the Space sector. He said that much of this vision has already become a reality with the UAE sending a space mission to Mars orbit, thereby becoming the sixth such country demonstrating its prowess in the space sector and on top of that, the UAE became the only second country, other than India, to successfully launch a Mars orbiter in its very first attempt.