Brussels, 26 October 2023
Today marks the last day of the first ever Space Dialogue that took place between the African Union and the European Union in Dakar, Senegal. It had started on the 24th of October.
During the dialogue, participants discussed their respective political priorities in the space domain. They covered the main aspects of the EU-AU collaboration in space: earth observation, satellite navigation and satellite connectivity. On this last point, the EU presented to its African partners the EU satellite constellation IRIS², which stands for Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite and that aims to offer global connectivity through satellites.
The Space Dialogue is a result of the long-standing and fruitful collaboration between the European Union and the African Union that has been ongoing in the space sector for the past 20 years. Its main goal is to establish a process of regular exchanges and concrete cooperation between the African Union and the EU on space affairs.
IRIS² will provide Member States with guaranteed access to highly secure, sovereign, and global connectivity services. It also aims at enabling the provision of a commercial infrastructure to provide high-speed.
Source – EU Commission