Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday described the launch of the South Asian satellite by India as a ‘historic moment’ and said it opens up new horizons of engagement in the region, a view that was shared by leaders of six other countries of South Asia.
Modi, who has projected the satellite as India’s ‘priceless gift’ to its neighbours, said the ‘unprecedented’ development sends out a message that ‘even sky is not the limit when it comes to regional cooperation’.
The launch was celebrated jointly through a video conference by Modi, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bhutanese Prime Minister Thering Tobgay, Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen, Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena.
Pakistan is not a part of the project as it had refused to accept India’s ‘gift’, which Modi had proposed soon after becoming the prime minister in 2014.
"Successful launch of South Asian Satellite is a historic moment. It opens up new horizons of engagement," Modi tweeted immediately after the GSLV-F09 carrying South Asia Communication Satellite lifted off from Sriharikota spaceport.
"Today is a historic day, a day without any precedence," he said later while addressing the video conference.
Underlining the concept of ‘sabka sath, sabka vikas’ (cooperation of all, development for all), he said the development marked fulfilment of India's promise made two years ago to advance its space technology for the growth and prosperity of South Asia.
Noting that this was the first of its kind project in South Asia, Modi said the satellite would help the individual countries in meeting their own needs with regard to development, better governance, poverty eradication and disaster mitigation.
He said India wanted growth, development and peace in the region and was keen to utilise technology to pursue this goal for the shared prosperity.
Hailing the scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation for ensuring the flawless launch, he said the satellite will greatly benefit South Asia and the region's progress.
"This (launch) tells us that even sky is not the limit when it comes to regional cooperation," he said.
"This symbolises our unshakeable resolve to place the needs of our peoples in the forefront," Modi said.
He said the mantra was ‘cooperation, not confrontation, development, not destruction and prosperity, not poverty’.
“Sabka sath, sabka vikas can be the guiding light for action and cooperation in South Asia and a befitting way for us to achieve our shared priorities of economic prosperity for our people,” the prime minister said.
“And in this, you will find a strong and committed partner in India that truly believes in the strength of this choice and principle,” he told leaders of Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Afghanistan which are a part of the project.
“We are a united family of South Asian countries, united in our pursuit of peace, progress & prosperity of our region and the entire humankind,” the prime minister said.
Modi, soon after taking over as the prime minister in 2014, had made a unilateral proposal of India launching the satellite whose data would be shared with the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries for their development and prosperity.
Initially, it was to be named as ‘SAARC satellite’ but its name was changed to South Asia Satellite after Pakistan refused to join the project.
The satellite will provide a significant capability to each of the participating countries in terms of DTH, certain VSAT capacity plus linking among the states for both disaster information transfer and also in terms of library type of things.
IMAGE: The GSAT-9 satellite launched on board GSLV-F09 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Shriharikota, Andhra Pradesh on Friday. Photograph: ISRO
