High-Level Europe-Africa Forum on Earth Observation from Space

The Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union is holding the High-Level Europe-Africa Forum on Earth Observation from Space this Thursday and Friday, 10 and 11 June. The Forum will be in hybrid format, at Centro Cultural de Belém, in Lisbon. The Portuguese Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Manuel Heitor, will take part in the opening session on Friday at 09h30 (Lisbon time).

The initiative is co-organised by the Portuguese Presidemcy, the African Union Commission, the European Commission, the European Space Agency, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), the Portuguese Space Agency and the AIR Centre.

On the subject “Space as an enabler for the digital and green transitions, with earth observation fostering sustainable development, new skills and job creation”, the aim is to boost cooperation between Africa and Europe and to develop data processing systems.

Now, 14 years after the 2nd EU-Africa Summit, which was held in Lisbon and was the starting point for cooperation between the two continents in the area of earth observation, Portugal is once again playing a fundamental role in the reinforcement of this partnership, which is one of the priorities of the Portuguese Presidency, and bringing together high-level representatives of governments and the European Commission and the African Commission, as well as members of space agencies and industry and the European and African academic and scientific communities.

During the event, “The Lisbon Manifesto on Earth Observation for Africa and Europe” will also be signed. The manifesto provides for reinforcing cooperation in this area as an essential tool for the digital and environmental transitions and fostering scientific, technological and business cooperation between Africa and Europe with the aim of developing earth observation satellites.

The Portuguese Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education and the African Union Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation will give a press conference at 13h15 (Lisbon time).