International Involvement
In September 2003, China joined the Galileo project. China was to invest €230 million (USD 302 million, GBP 155 million, CNY 2.34 billion) in the project over the following years.
In July 2004, Israel signed an agreement with the EU to become a partner in the Galileo project.
On 3 June 2005 the EU and Ukraine signed an agreement for Ukraine to join the project, as noted in a press release.
As of November 2005, Morocco also joined the programme.
On 12 January 2006, South Korea joined the programme.
In November 2006, China opted instead to independently develop the Beidou navigation system satellite navigation system. When Galileo was viewed as a private-sector development with public-sector financial participation, European Commission program managers sought Chinese participation in pursuit of Chinese cash in the short term and privileged access to China’s market for positioning and timing applications in the longer term. However, due to security and technology-independence policy from European Commission, China was, in effect, dis-invited from Galileo and without a return of its monetary investment, a decision that was reinforced by China’s move to build its own global system, called Beidou/Compass. At the Munich Satellite Navigation Summit on March 10, a Chinese government official asked the European Commission why it no longer wanted to work with China, and when China’s cash investment in Galileo would be returned.
On 30 November 2007, the 27 member states of the European Union unanimously agreed to move forward with the project, with plans for bases in Germany and Italy. Spain did not approve during the initial vote, but approved it later that day. This greatly improves the viability of the Galileo project: "The EU's executive had previously said that if agreement was not reached by January 2008, the long-troubled project would essentially be dead."
On 3 April 2009, Norway too joined the programme pledging €68.9 million toward development costs and allowing its companies to bid for the construction contracts. Norway, while not a member of the EU, is a member of the ESA.
Read more about this topic: Galileo (satellite Navigation)
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