Monaco has been elected to the Presidency of the Eutelsat-IGO Assembly of Parties at the 40th meeting of Eutelsat, which took place in Paris on March 15 and 16.
Frédéric Labarrère, First Counsellor at the Embassy of Monaco in France, currently Vice Chair, was elected by acclamation as President of the Assembly of Parties. Serbia was elected as Vice-President. The term of office is two years.
The new Executive Secretary of the organisation, also elected at the meeting, is Piotr Dmochowski-Lipski, from Poland, who will replace the current French Executive Secretary, Christian Roisse, on July 2, 2017.
A new Advisory Committee, the Council’s advisory body, has also been appointed, consisting of Germany, France, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal and Switzerland.
During the Assembly many issues were discussed, including those relating to the use of radio frequencies assigned to Eutelsat-IGO, deliberate programme interference transmitted by satellite and protection of the C-band for the fixed-satellite service.
Participation of Eutelsat-IGO in the activities of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, and the International Telecommunication Union and its relations with other intergovernmental satellite organisations were also talked about.
The Eutelsat Intergovernmental Organisation, now known as Eutelsat-IGO, has 49 member states. Founded in 1977, it set up the first telecommunications satellite system in Europe. In 2001, the organisation created Eutelsat SA, a satellite operator, to which it transferred its activities while continuing to ensure that the company complied with certain agreed commitments vis-à-vis the Eutelsat Member States.