Res Communis

EU-South Africa Space Cooperation Report

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

The European Council has posted a Space Cooperation Report in relation to cooperation between the EU and South Africa. The report states:

Following the July 2008 EU-South Africa Summit, which identified space as one of the possible areas for future enhanced bilateral cooperation, the JCC approved in October 2008 the Terms of Reference for an EU-South Africa Space Dialogue, prepared together by the European Commission, the South African Department of Science and Technology and the European Space Agency.

The first annual dialogue meeting under these Terms of Reference took place on 27 January 2009 in Pretoria. It offered an opportunity to exchange information on space policy and programmes, which have entered important stages on both sides with the European Space Policy and the adoption of South Africa’s National Space Science and Technology Strategy.

Next to discussions on how this Space Dialogue could promote scientific exchange and the opportunities for South Africa to participate in the relevant future calls under the EU’s 7th Framework Programme, as well as in the ESA science programmes, both sides highlighted the importance and potential for cooperation in the areas of Earth observation and global navigation satellite systems (GNSS).

The participants agreed on the importance of Earth observation as a critical instrument to inform and support policy- and decision-making in the interest of sustainable growth and development.

Cooperation in this area should build on existing contacts and respective initiatives like the South African national Earth observation programmes, the European Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative, and the European Space Agency Earth Observation programs. The parties agreed to also explore opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of ground segment and data exchange. They highlighted the importance of relevant multilateral cooperation, like in the Group on Earth Observation (GEO), but also the recent GMES-and-Africa initiative as part of the broader Joint Africa-EU Strategy.

In this context, the meeting also reaffirmed the commitment of participants to contribute through their bilateral cooperation in space to the implementation of the Science, Space and Information Society Partnership of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy.

The parties agreed to further develop cooperation with regard to the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS) and to establish relevant focused working groups, including to consider and implement new initiatives, in particular as regards the extension of basic EGNOS performance beyond 20° South over Africa as a first step towards full performance extension, and the installation of elements of the Galileo ground infrastructure in South Africa. Following the Space Dialogue in January in Pretoria, a specific experts meeting was held in June 2009 in Brussels to define a roadmap for the project implementation.

The next meeting of the Space Dialogue should take place in early 2010 in Brussels. It has been agreed to establish a list of contact points in the relevant services and to identify a selected set of concrete areas of cooperation and actions ahead of that meeting.