The Baltic country is the one remaining European Union member yet to sign a U.N. treaty first tabled in 1967, at the height of the Cold War, when many feared that space could become an arena for warfare.
Entitled the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, the agreement states that nuclear weapons cannot be deployed in space and that the moon and other celestial bodies can only be used for “peaceful purposes”.
It also states that no nation can claim territorial rights in space and that it can be explored by any country.
Quoted by Latvian state broadcaster LSM, Jānis Paiders, a deputy minister, said that signing the agreement marks a change in the country’s official stance towards space exploration.
“Joining this international treaty is an important step in the advancement of Latvia’s space policy,” he said. “It demonstrates our commitment to international cooperation and supports the rapidly growing space sector in Latvia.”
During the era when the treaty was first signed, tension between the world’s superpowers, the U.S. and the Soviet Union, had led to a so-called Space Race, in which both states competed for supremacy in the skies. There were real fears that outer space could become another front in the Cold War and that weapons would be deployed beyond earth.
Latvia was a part of the Soviet Union - which was among the original signatories to the treaty - but the Baltic state did not sign up to the deal after independence.
LSM reported that the government in Riga sees the ratification of the treaty as a step to joining the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, a related U.N. organization.
