India offers to host global spatial data set-up

Tuesday, 03 February 2004, 20:30 IST
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BANGALORE: India has offered to host the secretariat of an international organisation that promotes global access to geographic information. The offer to host the secretariat for the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) Association was made by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair at the inaugural session of the five-day international conference of the GSDI here Monday. "In view of Bangalore's global reputation as the technology hub of India, the hi-tech city will be an ideal location for setting up the GSDI secretariat," Nair. Thirty-two countries are members of the association. Bangalore, which was the headquarters of ISRO and was home to a number of academic, scientific, defence and research and development organizations, it had the right kind of talent pool to administer GSDI activities, Nair stated. GSDI Association president Ian Masser told IANS on the sidelines of the conference that the governing council of the organization would consider the Indian offer. "India is the first to come forward with the proposal. We are considering the offer seriously because India would be an ideal base for a global organization of this kind. We have to work out the details," he said. An interim secretariat is currently operating from West Virginia in the US.
Source: IANS
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