Statement by the President on the Geneva Radio Conference on Space Communications.

I RECEIVED a report today from Mr. Joseph McConnell, Chairman of the U.S. Delegation at the recent Extraordinary Administrative Radio Conference on Space Communications held in Geneva by the International Telecommunication Union. This Conference has been one of the most successful of its kind held in recent times. Mr. McConnell is commended for the outstanding leadership which he gave to the American delegation and for his many contributions to the successful conclusion of the Conference.

The Conference allocated frequencies for communications satellites and adopted procedures governing their use, thus clearing the way for the establishment of an efficient global communications system. The Conference also allocated frequencies for meteorological and navigational satellites, space research, and radio astronomy.

This Government and the United States Communications Satellite Corporation can now take practical steps, in cooperation with other governments and foreign business entities, to develop a single global commercial space communications system. It continues to be the policy of the United States that all countries which wish to participate in the ownership, management, and use of this system will have an opportunity to do so.

Aside from the many political, economic, and social benefits, effective satellite communications can improve international understanding by providing a broad new channel for the flow of information between peoples.

The many delegations which participated in the important work of this Conference are to be congratulated on its successful outcome.