The Gulf's first remote satellite imaging centre is about to open in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi. High-tech information from the Gulf Centre for Remote Sensing, or GCRS, will allow the region's planners to fight pollution and safeguard the environment. The centre is a joint venture between British companies and a local partner. Our correspondent Frank Gardner reports from Dubai:

For the oil-rich countries of the Gulf, the advent of a satellite imaging centre can only spell good news for the environment. The general manager of the Gulf centre for remote sensing, Richard Marston, told the BBC that remote imaging will have an impact on a wide range of commercial activities in the region.

He said that by using a combination of aerial photography and colourful satellite imagery oil companies should be able to carry out their work without harming the environment. Both urban and rural planners will also benefit from this new scheme of data as it comes on stream in early 1998.

The centre will be accessing satellites belonging to the US, France, Russia and India as well as using aircraft-mounted optical cameras. Since the satellites only returned to the same position every sixteen days, it usually takes at least three weeks to turn around a request for remote imaging.

The GCRS is a joint venture between GEC Marconi, the UK based national based remote sensing centre, and a local Abu Dhabi industrial development company. It's been set up as one of the Gulf's many offset deals whereby part of the proceeds of large defence contracts have to be reinvested in the country making the purchase.