US embassy cable - 02ROME3127

UNCLAS ROME 003127 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR OES/SAT RALPH BRAIBANTI 
 
NASA FOR IRD/BALLARD 
 
PARIS FOR NASA REP FELDSTEIN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TSPA, PREL, IT, AVIATION, FAA 
SUBJECT: GOI NOTE VERBALE ON BILATERAL COOPERATION 
                       UNCLASSIFIED 
 
PAGE 02        ROME  03127  260739Z 
 
1.  EMBASSY PROVIDES INFORMAL ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF A NOTE 
VERBALE WHICH IS DATED APRIL 18, 2001 BUT ARRIVED ONLY A FEW 
WEEKS AGO.  THE ITALIAN TEXT WILL BE FAXED TO OES/SAT 
BRAIBANTI. 
 
2.   BEGINNING OF INFORMAL EMBASSY TRANSLATION: 
 
THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (MFA) PRESENTS ITS 
COMPLIMENTS TO THE U.S. EMBASSY AND HAS THE HONOR TO REFER 
TO THE ATTACHED MOU, SIGNED IN ROME BY THE ITALIAN SPACE 
AGENCY (ASI) AND NASA ON OCTOBER 9, 1997, WHICH PROVIDES FOR 
THE BILATERAL COOPERATION PROGRAM BETWEEN ASI AND NASA FOR 
THE PROJECT, DEVELOPMENT, OPERATION, AND USE OF THREE MINI 
PRESSURIZED LOGISTICS MODULES FOR THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE 
STATION (ISS). 
 
THE DRAFT OF THIS LETTER BECAME INDISPENSABLE CONSIDERING 
THE TECHNICAL MODIFICATIONS MADE, DURING THE 90'S, TO THE 
ISS, IN WHICH ITALY PARTICIPATES BOTH AT BILATERAL LEVEL, 
HAVING SIGNED AN MOU WITH THE U.S. ON DECEMBER 6, 1991, AND 
AT MULTILATERAL LEVEL, BEING PART OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL 
AGREEMENT, WHICH PROVIDES FOR THE ISS COOPERATION, SIGNED IN 
WASHINGTON ON JANUARY 29, 1998. 
 
TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION THE NEED TO UPDATE THE BEFORE- 
MENTIONED 1991 MOU AND THE 1997 MOU, WHICH, ACCORDING TO 
ARTICLE 2.1, IS JURIDICALLY UNDER THE 1998 INTERGOVERNMENTAL 
AGREEMENT, RATIFIED BY ITALY BY LAW 418/2000, AND WHICH DOES 
NOT DEROGATE IN ANY WAY ITS RULES, THE MFA HAS THE HONOR TO 
PROPOSE THAT, IF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT AGREES, THIS NOTE, TO 
                       UNCLASSIFIED 
 
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WHICH THE MOU IS ATTACHED, AND THE REPLY NOTE COULD 
REPRESENT AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE TWO GOVERNMENTS WHICH 
WILL ENTER INTO FORCE ON THE DATE OF THE REPLY NOTE. 
 
THE MFA TAKES ADVANTAGE OF THIS OCCASION TO RENEW THE SENSES 
OF ITS HIGHEST CONSIDERATION TO THE U.S. EMBASSY. 
 
END OF INFORMAL EMBASSY TRANSLATION. 
 
SEMBLER 
 
                       UNCLASSIFIED 
 
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 2002ROME03127 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED