UNconventional: A Point of View.

• Author: Mekhtiev, Dr. Arif
• Position: Technological assistance and developing nations - Brief Article

Remote sensing, satellite communication, navigation and positioning, along with the technologies that have spin-off towards applications in medicine, education, enrichment of knowledge and science, all these and many others are pivotal elements for the sustainable development of each country.

But all this is correct when a country; a developed one, is economically strong to invest money to benefit from space technology applications. Unfortunately, on the eve of the third millennium, there are many countries in the world which cannot afford to spend money to benefit from space applications; the gap in utilizing space applications between the developed and developing countries is increasing,

In order to implement the space applications in developing countries, international organizations and donor countries carry out some particular projects every now and then. It helps to solve some problems, but generally it does not initiate the developing countries' own activity in space applications-it looks like "giving a fish instead of a fishing rod".

Among the impediments to the effective introduction of remote sensing applications are the lack of trained personnel and lack of access to satellite data.

I can illustrate this by taking as an example my own country. Azerbaijan Republic is not a developing country, simply because it was a part of a superpower for more than 70 years. It has a highly technical potential and qualified specialists and experts in many fields of science and technology including space applications. At the same time, it is a country with developing-country features, particularly its lack of funding for some development programmes, including space applications. Despite that, we have the Azerbaijan National Aerospace Agency, with more than 20 years experience in remote sensing and with skilful personnel. The lack of regular space imagery access, or the availability only of the commercial sources of satellite data, does not allow us to carry Out many remote sensing applications projects, which could help to speed up the restoration of the national economy.

The United Nations undertakes some measures for...