In a ceremony held at its embassy in Washington, D.C. on June 21, 2023, the Republic of Ecuador became the 26th nation to sign the Artemis Accords, demonstrating its commitment to sustainable and transparent space activity. Minister of Foreign Affairs Gustavo Manrique signed on behalf of Ecuador, which is the third South American nation to join.

Valda Vikmanis-Keller, Director of the State Department’s Office of Space Affairs, and Karen Feldstein, Associate Administrator for International and Interagency Relations at NASA, welcomed Ecuador to the Artemis Accords on behalf of the United States. Ambassador Ivonne A-Baki delivered remarks on behalf of Ecuador.

The Artemis Accords, which are grounded in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, are a set of non-legally binding principles to guide sustainable civil space exploration. These principles, which include transparency, peaceful purposes, registering of space objects and release of scientific data, help make the space environment safer and more predictable, and allow all nations – even those without space programs – to benefit from the data obtained in space.

From the original eight nations in 2020, Artemis Accords signatories now hail from every part of the globe and possess a variety of space capabilities and interests. By working together, we can advance the beneficial use of outer space for all humankind.

The Artemis Accords signatories are: Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

For more information, please visit the Department’s Artemis Accords website. For Media inquiries, please contact OES-PA-DG@state.gov.

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