New Delhi:Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called for greater international cooperation, sustainability and inclusion in the exploration and use of outer space, saying that the growing number of actors and technologies in space requires collective responsibility. Addressing the first International Space Summit in Paris through video conferencing, PM Modi thanked French President Emmanuel Macron for the invitation and for taking the initiative to convene the summit.

He said space, which had inspired human imagination for centuries, now plays an important role in everyday life, influencing areas ranging from climate and agriculture to oceans and communities. “As orbits become more crowded, technologies more powerful, and actors more numerous, our choices must be clear: cooperation over confrontation; sustainability over short-term gain; and inclusion over exclusion,” PM Modi said.

The Prime Minister said India’s approach to space cooperation is rooted in the principle of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, or “One Earth, One Family, One Future”, and called for the same spirit to extend beyond Earth.