Finland and India to strengthen cooperation in space sectors

The aim is to increase exchange of information and cooperation between Finnish and Indian specialists and authorities.

During a meeting between State Secretary Anttonen and India’s Minister of State for External Affairs Vijay Kumar Singh on 10 January, two Memorandums of Understanding between Finland and India were signed, one on cooperation in the cyber security sector and another on the peaceful use of outer space. Permanent State Secretary Matti Anttonenvisited India on 8–10 January 2019.

The National Cyber Security Centre of the Transport and Communications Agency of Finland (TrafiCom) and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) are responsible for the document dealing with cyber security. The Memorandum of Understanding is based on the parties’ wish to engage in closer cooperation in cyber security matters. In networked societies, cyber threats faced by one sector usually affect also all other sectors. The aim of the cooperation is both to improve exchange of information between the parties on various cyber threats and to improve their capacity to prevent and resolve different cyber security incidents. Finland is known for its very high expertise in cyber security matters.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are responsible for the Memorandum of Understanding on the space sector. The cooperation is based on India’s capacity to offer cost-effective launches of small satellites and Finnish organisations’ growing interest in satellite systems of their own. So far, three Finnish satellites have been launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in India: Aalto-1 of the Aalto University in June 2017; Finland’s first commercial satellite, Iceye Oy’s ICEYE-X1, in January 2018; and Reaktor Space Lab’s Hello World satellite in late November 2018.