N° 14–1995: Establishment of an ESA Permanent Mission in Russia
10 April 1995
On Monday 10 April 1995, the Russian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Georgij Enverovich Mamedov and ESA's Director General Jean-Marie Luton, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow, signed an agreement between the Russian Government and ESA concerning the establishment of an ESA Permanent Mission in Russia.
This agreement, formalising ESA's status in Russia, includes provisions recognising the Agency as a public- law intergovernmental organisation with the legal personality required to conduct its cooperation on space activities with Russian institutions and industrial concerns.
ESA has opened its Permanent Mission in Moscow, headed by Mr Alain Fournier-Sicre, to facilitate its cooperation, with the Russian Agency in particular, across a wide range of science and technology, with flights by ESA astronauts on the Russian space station Mir featuring prominently.
After the signing ceremony, Mr Luton stressed that "signature of this agreement marks a further step in the convergence of Russia's and ESA's space activities and will be of decisive importance in developing international space cooperation over the years ahead".