Egypt launched the headquarters of the African Space Agency (AFSA) in Cairo’s Egyptian Space City on Sunday.
“Egypt has made extensive efforts to establish an institution that embodies the vision of “the Africa we want” in African Union Agenda 2063,” Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatti said at the inauguration.
He emphasized that it will serve as a platform for strengthening cooperation between African countries, particularly in the international forum, in the framework of the United Nations, to peaceful use of space, to build expertise and unify African status.
Abdelatty also highlighted the importance of institutional openness to collaboration with research institutions, universities, and the International Space Agency.
On his part, Sherif Sedky, CEO of the Egyptian Space Agency, said that the inauguration of the AFSA was a key milestone in Africa’s history.
“AFSA serves as a beacon of innovation, collaboration and progress in all African countries,” he said.
Meanwhile, Huan Yiheng, co-founder of Beijing-based Minospace, which focuses on advanced small satellite engineering, said the agency is an important platform for African countries to jointly develop space technology.
“We want to explore potential cooperation with the AFSA and other African countries,” Huang told Xinhua.
Following the inauguration, AFSA will become the main entity coordinating Africa’s space cooperation with European and other international partners. The central purpose of AFSA is to enhance space missions across Africa and ensure optimal access to space-based data, information, services and products.
Egypt was selected as the host country of the AFSA in 2019 by the African Union in 2019 after meeting the necessary political and technical standards.
