THE ARMY SIGNS AN AGREEMENT WITH SPANISH NATIONAL RADIO TO DISSEMINATE THE ACTIVITIES OF ANTARCTIC BASE "GABRIEL DE CASTILLA".

The Chief of the Army Staff, General Fulgencio Coll Bucher, on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, has signed an agreement with the director of Spanish National Radio (RNE), Mr. Santiago González Suárez, to broadcast a series of news slots on the activities undertaken by Army members on Antarctic Base "Gabriel de Castilla".

One of the Chief of the army Staff’s aims is to provide logistic support and to co-operate in the activities of the Ministry of Science and Innovation, by means of the management of the Army’s Antarctic Base "Gabriel de Castilla" and the support of the scientific projects carried out there. In keeping with this co-operation between civil services, this labour is going to be disseminated by Spanish National Radio through its station Radio 5 All News.

The format chosen by Radio 5 is the one that it habitually uses for scientific dissemination: micro-slots lasting a few minutes which are broadcast periodically. The content of these slots will be based on interviews with base members and on information generated by the scientific experiments.

"To demonstrate that as public institutions we are open to all society and that collaboration with the Spanish Army as well as with all society is a key function of National Radio”, were the words of the Spanish National Radio director at the solemn signing of the agreement. 
"National Radio’s work is very important so that society may see the labour we are performing in its service under very harsh conditions,” declared the Chief of the Army Staff after signing the agreement, to which he added that this “reflects the synergy between Administrations in order to provide optimum service”.

The Chief of the Army Staff also reminded of something that is not always known: the Army not only provides logistic support to the researchers who have travelled there, but also uses Base “Gabriel de Castilla" for its own scientific research.

In 2003 an agreement of these characteristics was first signed and is now recovered with foreseen one-year validity.

The solemn signing of the agreement was carried out on 3rd September in Madrid at the Goya Hall of Buenavista Palace, Army Headquarters.