He added that "the security and safety of assets in outer space is of crucial importance for global economic and social development. We call upon all states to redouble efforts to strengthen the international legal regime for the peaceful uses of outer space."

Mukherjee's address, released in an official email, followed statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last month in New Delhi calling for a weapons-free outer space.

India and China in the past five years have been engaged in intensive talks on expanding trade and resolving a boundary row that caused a brief war in 1962. But the two nations are also rivals for resources and influence in Asia and eye each other's military developments closely.

Following China's successful anti-satellite missile test on January 11, Air Force (IAF) chief Shashi Tyagi said India planned an aerospace defence command to shield itself against possible attacks from outer space.

Military sources said the IAF would try and replicate the North American Aerospace Defense Command set up by the United States and Canada, which detects and tracks threatening man-made objects in outer space.

After destroying satellites in space in the 1980s, the United States and the Soviet Union ended their space weapons programmes, largely because of the problem of debris.

Until Tuesday, China had refused to publicly confirm the test, which drew condemnation from the United States, Japan and many other countries amid concerns that it could spark an international arms race in space.

Last month, India claimed its first success in returning a space capsule from orbit. It said it was a step towards its goals of manned space flight and a mission to send a craft to orbit the moon and return before the end of the decade.

The Indian Space Research Organisation has a budget of 36 billion rupees (850 million dollars) allotted by the government and also receives payment for launching satellites from other nations that funds civilian space research.

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