Foreign and education ministries propose ESO membership by 2007

The education and foreign ministries have proposed that the Czech Republic become a member of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) by next year. In plans presented to the government, the Foreign Ministry states it has managed to collect six of the around 8 million euros needed to become a member of this prestigious intergovernmental organisation for astronomical research. The ESO which has its headquarters in Germany's Garching and operates observatories in Chile, currently has eleven member countries.