"Today the European Commission sought (EU government) Council approval for its recommendation to start negotiations on a cooperation agreement with South Korea on the development of a Civil Global Navigation Satellite system (GNSS)," it said in a statement.

Cooperation agreements have already been signed with China and Israel and discussions are under way with Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, India, Malayasia, Mexico, Russia and Ukraine.

The Galileo project aims to create a rival to the United States' global positioning system.

The selection process is currently under way for an operator who will run the system for 20 years. A decision is expected by the end of June.

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