State Secretary Martina Hirayama attends European Space Summit in Toulouse

On 16 February, ministers from European Space Agency (ESA) member states met in Toulouse, France, to discuss how to further develop and implement Europe's space ambitions. State Secretary Martina Hirayama took part in the summit. The meeting of 19 November 2021 in Portugal gave a boost to Europe's space activities - the ESA Council has now confirmed that it will be going forward with the new initiatives launched by the ESA Director General. These initiatives, which will benefit from ESA, the EU, all their respective member states and the private sector, will contribute to a strong presence in space for Europe. The ministers in charge of space affairs from ESA and EU Member States met in Toulouse for a European Space Summit. This meeting continues on the trajectory set by a previous meeting on 19 November, which gave a boost to Europe's space activities by defining new initiatives aimed at advancing Europe's activities in space in specific priority areas, called -accelerators-: contributing to a green future, rapid and resilient crisis response, and the protection of space assets. This ESA Council at ministerial level helped strengthen the legitimacy of ESA and its member states to make useful contributions in all these areas.