Nota de Imprensa
Relations Between Chile and ESO
10 de Junho de 1994
As announced in an earlier Press Release (eso9408), a high-ranking ESO delegation visited Santiago de Chile during the week of 24 - 28 May 1994 to discuss various important matters of mutual interest with the Chilean Government. It consisted of Dr. Peter Creola (President of ESO Council), Dr. Catherine Cesarsky (Vice-President of ESO Council), Dr. Henrik Grage (Former Vice-President of ESO Council) and Professor Riccardo Giacconi (ESO Director General), the latter accompanied by his advisers.
THE SUPPLEMENTARY TREATY BETWEEN CHILE AND ESO
Following a meeting with the ambassadors to Chile of the eight ESO member countries, the ESO delegation was received by the Chilean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Carlos Figueroa, and members of his staff. The ESO delegation was pleased to receive assurances that the present Chilean Government, like its predecessors, will continue to honour all contractual agreements, in particular the privileges and immunities of this Organisation, which were laid down in the Treaty between ESO and Chile that was signed by the parties in 1963 and ratified the following year.
The discussions covered some aspects of the proposed Supplementary Treaty which has been under preparation during the past year. This included in particular the desire of the Chilean side to further increase the percentage of guaranteed time for Chilean astronomers at the future ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) and also the rules governing the installation by ESO member countries of additional telescopes at the ESO observatories in Chile.
ESO invited a Chilean delegation to visit the ESO Headquarters in Garching (Germany) later this year for the final adjustment of the text of the Supplementary Treaty, after which it should be possible to proceed rapidly with the signing and ratification by the Chilean Parliament and the ESO Council.
THE SITUATION AROUND PARANAL
The ESO delegation expressed its deep concern to the Chilean Government about the continuing legal questioning of ESO's privileges and immunities at the designated VLT site on the Paranal mountain south of the city of Antofagasta (see eso9407), and also around the ownership of the land. ESO is now very worried about the timely completion of this 500 million DEM project. Unless a clarification of this problem is achieved as soon as possible, it is unlikely that the current plan for the construction of the VLT observatory at Paranal can be maintained.
The ESO delegation expressed the opinion that these uncertainties must be removed, before the final negotiations about the above mentioned Treaty can proceed.
RECEPTION BY THE PRESIDENT OF CHILE
During its stay in Santiago, the ESO delegation was honoured to be received by the President of the Republic of Chile, Don Eduardo Frei Ruiz Tagle. ESO extended a warm invitation to the President to lay the cornerstone of the VLT observatory at Paranal later in 1994 at the appropriate moment. Twenty-five years ago, in 1969, the ESO La Silla observatory was inaugurated by his predecessor and father, Don Eduardo Frei Montalva.
DECISIONS BY THE ESO COUNCIL
The ESO delegation reported about the discussions in Santiago to the ESO Council, during its ordinary semi-annual session on June 7 - 8, 1994.
The Council noted with satisfaction the clear attitude expressed by the Chilean Government, especially what concerns ESO's privileges and immunities in the host country.
The ESO Council expects that the Chilean courts will also confirm these privileges and immunities.
The ESO Council expressed the hope that it will now be possible to arrive at a resolution of the outstanding issues. However, in view of the increasingly tight VLT schedule - it is planned to ship the first VLT building to Paranal in the month of September this year - the Council was also much concerned about any further delays. Council requested the ESO management to ensure that the authorities of the member countries will be kept closely informed about the further developments during the coming months.
The ESO Council Working Group on Relations between ESO and Chile will meet on June 29, 1994, to analyse the developments; it will report to Council immediately thereafter. Further underlining the importance of these issues for the Organisation and European Astronomy, Council resolved to meet during an extraordinary meeting on August 8 - 9, 1994. This will allow a thorough evaluation of the entire situation before ESO engages itself more fully at Paranal.
Sobre a Nota de Imprensa
| Nº da Notícia: | eso9412 |
| Legacy ID: | PR 12/94 |
| Nome: | Chile, ESO Director General, Meeting, Santiago |
| Tipo: | Unspecified : Technology : Observatory |
| Facility: | Very Large Telescope |
Imagens
Our use of Cookies
We use cookies that are essential for accessing our websites and using our services. We also use cookies to analyse, measure and improve our websites’ performance, to enable content sharing via social media and to display media content hosted on third-party platforms.
ESO Cookies Policy
The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) is the pre-eminent intergovernmental science and technology organisation in astronomy. It carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities for astronomy.
This Cookies Policy is intended to provide clarity by outlining the cookies used on the ESO public websites, their functions, the options you have for controlling them, and the ways you can contact us for additional details.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small pieces of data stored on your device by websites you visit. They serve various purposes, such as remembering login credentials and preferences and enhance your browsing experience.
Categories of cookies we use
Essential cookies (always active): These cookies are strictly necessary for the proper functioning of our website. Without these cookies, the website cannot operate correctly, and certain services, such as logging in or accessing secure areas, may not be available; because they are essential for the website’s operation, they cannot be disabled.
Functional Cookies: These cookies enhance your browsing experience by enabling additional features and personalization, such as remembering your preferences and settings. While not strictly necessary for the website to function, they improve usability and convenience; these cookies are only placed if you provide your consent.
Analytics cookies: These cookies collect information about how visitors interact with our website, such as which pages are visited most often and how users navigate the site. This data helps us improve website performance, optimize content, and enhance the user experience; these cookies are only placed if you provide your consent. We use the following analytics cookies.
Matomo Cookies:
This website uses Matomo (formerly Piwik), an open source software which enables the statistical analysis of website visits. Matomo uses cookies (text files) which are saved on your computer and which allow us to analyze how you use our website. The website user information generated by the cookies will only be saved on the servers of our IT Department. We use this information to analyze www.eso.org visits and to prepare reports on website activities. These data will not be disclosed to third parties.
On behalf of ESO, Matomo will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage.
Matomo cookies settings:
Additional Third-party cookies on ESO websites: some of our pages display content from external providers, e.g. YouTube.
Such third-party services are outside of ESO control and may, at any time, change their terms of service, use of cookies, etc.
YouTube: Some videos on the ESO website are embedded from ESO’s official YouTube channel. We have enabled YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode, meaning that no cookies are set unless the user actively clicks on the video to play it. Additionally, in this mode, YouTube does not store any personally identifiable cookie data for embedded video playbacks. For more details, please refer to YouTube’s embedding videos information page.
Cookies can also be classified based on the following elements.
Regarding the domain, there are:
- First-party cookies, set by the website you are currently visiting. They are stored by the same domain that you are browsing and are used to enhance your experience on that site;
- Third-party cookies, set by a domain other than the one you are currently visiting.
As for their duration, cookies can be:
- Browser-session cookies, which are deleted when the user closes the browser;
- Stored cookies, which stay on the user's device for a predetermined period of time.
How to manage cookies
Cookie settings: You can modify your cookie choices for the ESO webpages at any time by clicking on the link Cookie settings at the bottom of any page.
In your browser: If you wish to delete cookies or instruct your browser to delete or block cookies by default, please visit the help pages of your browser:
Please be aware that if you delete or decline cookies, certain functionalities of our website may be not be available and your browsing experience may be affected.
You can set most browsers to prevent any cookies being placed on your device, but you may then have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site/page. And some services and functionalities may not work properly at all (e.g. profile logging-in, shop check out).
Updates to the ESO Cookies Policy
The ESO Cookies Policy may be subject to future updates, which will be made available on this page.
Additional information
For any queries related to cookies, please contact: pdprATesoDOTorg.
As ESO public webpages are managed by our Department of Communication, your questions will be dealt with the support of the said Department.