REGIONAL COOPERATION IN SPACE ACTIVITIES FOR EMERGING COUNTRIES: THE CENTRAL AMERICAN CASE

摘要

The Central American Association for Aeronautics and Space (ACAE, in Spanish) is a non-profit organization(NGO), which leads the efforts to introduce the Central American region in the world's technological paradigm of aerospace development. Its vision is to inspire the Central American talent to participate in the development of the aerospace field. ACAE is working with the private sector, the governments and academic institutions of the region, through initiatives such the development of the aerospace related law framework, promotion of research, generation of innovative projects and promotion and diffusion of knowledge in the aerospace field. In July 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Costa Rica, the Secretary of Central American Integration (SICA), the ministers of foreign affairs of the region and ACAE's first representatives gathered in an event named "launching of the program of aerospace development of Costa Rica and integration of the Central American region in the generation of new technologies", hosted in the City of Liberia, Province of Guanacaste, Costa Rica. In the event, it was presented a proposal of multinational collaboration, which started the creation of branches of ACAE in the participating countries. As a result of this initiative, ACAE has two formal offices, one located in Costa Rica, another one in Guatemala. On the other hand, a group of professionals in EI Salvador related to the aerospace field created the El Salvador Aerospace Institute (ESAI), a non-profit organization with similar purposes and vision than ACAE. Since ACAE has been actively interested in establishing an operations center in El Salvador, as soon as the group was aware about ESAl's establishment, it was decided to acknowledge ESAI as the sole representative of space matters based in such country and starting discussions with the objective of create a common proposal for space development in the region. Several meetings between leaders of ACAE and ESAI have taken place ever since, producing a fruitful relation of cooperation between both organizations and connecting the ambitions of three nations: Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala. This paper will explain the process of integration of the governments of the Central American region in space activities, from the perspectives and roles of catalyzers-NGOs from the civil society (ACAE and ESAI), as well the challenges in terms of identify financial support (contributions from public funds from each country and international collaboration opportunities), resources for develop the administrative structure, and the required international legal framework between the participating countries.