The signing ceremony with Brazil

On 29 December 2010, at a ceremony in Brasilia, the Brazilian Minister of Science and Technology, Sergio Machado Rezende (right) and the ESO Director General, Tim de Zeeuw (left) signed the formal accession agreement aiming to make Brazil a Member State of the European Southern Observatory. Brazil will become the fifteenth Member State and the first from outside Europe. Since the agreement means accession to an international convention, the agreement must now be submitted to the Brazilian Parliament for ratification.