Res Communis

Italy and Kenya extend the Malindi agreement

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

From ASI:

Italy and Kenya extend the Malindi agreement
Signed in Nairobi during Minister Frattini’s visit

14 Jan 2010

Today in Nairobi, the president of the Italian Space Agency, Enrico Saggese, in the wake of the visit to Kenya by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Franco Frattini, met Ambassador Nancy Kirui, the Kenyan Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, the counterpart in managing the “Luigi Broglio” Space Centre at Malindi. President Saggese was accompanied by Professor Ezio Bussoletti, member the ASI’s board, and by Gabriella Arrigo, in charge of relations with countries outside Europe in ASI’s Strategy Unit.

Saggese and Kirui, after congratulating each other on the ongoing bilateral cooperation, in particular on the inauguration of a regional centre for Earth observation, agreed to extend the current intergovernmental agreement regarding the centre until 31 December 2010. This is in anticipation of the new definitive new intergovernmental agreement; the draft of which has been agreed by MAE, the Ministry of Defence and the ASI and is now being examined by the Kenyan government.

The “Luigi Broglio” base at Malindi was also the subject of political meetings between Minister Frattini and his Kenyan equivalent Moses Wetang’ula, accompanied by the Minister for Defence, Yussuf Haji. At the end of the meetings, the two Ministers for Foreign Affairs signed several joint decisions in order to formalise the start of negotiations on the new intergovernmental agreement.

The work at Malindi was already underway in the sixties thanks to the decisive drive of Prof. Luigi Broglio, and was then renewed in 1995 by an agreement still effective today. The ASI has managed the centre since 2003, replacing the Sapienza University of Rome. Notable current activities include remote sensing, orbital acquisition, research and training. New activities include the possibility to start launches again and for the Malindi base to take part in the international circuit for environmental and climate change studies.