Speech by the Minister of Foreign Affairs

tor General of ESO, Foreign Minister José Miguel Insulza and President Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle. The original language version of the four addresses follows this introduction. (A translation in English of the Span-ish text is given on pages 58 and 59 in this issue of The Messenger.) A time capsule whose contents are described in Dr. Richard West's article was then deposited by President Frei with the works being blessed by the Archbishop of Antofagas-ta, Monsignor Patricio Infante. Both the formal and informal parts of the Ceremonies were de-1 22 noted by great warmth. The event is seen as initiating a new period in the relations between ESO and its host country Chile and the harbinger of closer scientific cooperation between Chilean and European astronomers. colleagues of the ESO Executive and the ESO Council; friends, ladies and gentlemen, It gives me great pleasure to welcome all of you on Cerro Paranal, the site of the world's largest optical observatory. Our organisation's life in Chile started 33 years ago when the original agreement between ESO and its host country was signed under the government of President Jorge Alessandri Rodriguez, agreement which was to be supplemented later under President Eduardo Frei Montalva, who inaugurated in 1969 the La Silla Observatory with his son, now President of the Republic. For us it is then a special honour to welcome today members of both presidential families. Nine years ago, in a historical meeting at the ESO headquarters in Garching, Germany, the 8 Member States of ESO united in the Council took the momentous decision to construct the Very Large Telescope. This decision followed a period of several years of intense discussions in the European Scientific Community; as well as in the various ministries and science committees of the ESO Member Countries. The decision was not an easy one. Never before had a ground-based astronomical project of this size been proposed. Never before had the scientific community of Europe, together with the funding authorities, dared to consider a ground-based research facility to study the cosmos of this complexity and cost. The positive decision to engage in this project for the 21st century started a highly elaborate process on many fronts. Within ESO a gifted group of scientists and engineers began to work on the technical implementation, invoking the latest technologies available anywhere in the world. In many cities all over Europe, industrial engineers and technicians began …