Africa-EU space co-operation announced

The EU is supporting a number of new initiatives for technological co-operation and development with Africa in the space sector to secure global sustainable growth. The announcement comes as part of the EU-Africa Business Forum.

Space technologies, infrastructure and services are thought to play a positive role in the developing world and favour sustainable development and growth. It’s hoped that investment in space will also facilitate good governance of resources and contribute to the implementation of policies in various fields, namely food security, health, education, disaster management and climate change adaptation.

The private sector is also a partner in a number of space research projects supported by FP7 on space research, which also involve developing countries in Africa. The private sector is to continue to play an important role in Horizon 2020.

Satellite navigation is another area of co-operation aimed to develop the African economy. Building on the success of the European programme EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service), the European Commission and African partners are investigating possible financing and governance schemes to extend the provision of satellite navigation services over the African continent.