COLORADO SPRINGS (Sputnik) — The European Commission (EC) has no formal cooperation with Russia on space, but it is open to anyone who is interested to cooperate, EC Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska told Sputnik.
"We don't have space dialogue with Russia. We are very much open to everybody who wants this. This is global sector," Bienkowska said on the sidelines of the annual 33rd Space Symposium held in the US state of Colorado on Wednesday.
Bienkowska noted that the European Commission has only had informal contacts with Russia.
Bienkowska explained the European Commission is focusing on the commercial and economic aspect of space.
"We are not doing space explorations for example; this is done by the European Space Agency," Bienkowska said, adding that such an approach has so far been most important with respect to all the benefits coming from space data for the economy, especially for startup companies.
The event brings together representatives of the world's space agencies, commercial space businesses as well as military, national security and intelligence organizations to discuss and plan the future of space exploration.
