The 39th Charter Executive Secretariat and Board Meetings are ongoing this week in Darmstadt, Germany. The meetings are hosted by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) who have, jointly with the German Aerospace Center (DLR), taken over as the Charter's lead agency for the next 6-month period, starting 17 April 2018.

The Executive Secretariat amongst other matters discussed ongoing enhancements to operational processes and the Board concluded a new cooperation agreement with the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS).

A new member from the United Arab Emirates Space Agency was welcomed by Charter members. Current chair Mike Williams, from EUMETSAT, said: "Today, we are welcoming the United Arab Emirates Space Agency as a new member of the Charter."

Alongside the meeting two days of successful Project Manager (PM) training took place with several new PMs getting hands-on experience of the Charter systems and processes. They were also able to gain valuable knowledge from already established PMs from around the world.

EUMETSAT and DLR will hold the co-chair roles for six months before the French Space Agency CNES takes over in October.