The US-Africa summit, which began on Tuesday, included the first forum for US-Africa cooperation in the field of space to explore and address the challenges of the 21st century as well as opportunities, according to a White House statement.
The forum highlighted the space partnership and cooperation between the United States and Africa, including response to climate, biodiversity and global food crises, promotion of responsible behavior in outer space, and scientific and commercial space cooperation between the two sides.
The statement stated that the forum celebrated the signing of the Artemis Accords by Nigeria and Rwanda, making them the first African signatories.
The Artemis Accords, which have been signed by 23 countries so far, are a set of principles to guide the next stage in space exploration, and stress the importance of applying best practices and rules of responsible conduct in addition to complying with the Registration Agreement and the Rescue and Return Agreement.
The US-African summit is an important symbol of the value that Washington recently attaches to its African relations, especially in light of the significant increase in Chinese influence in the brown continent.
The summit’s agenda includes several axes, most notably economic partnership, human rights and development on the continent, climate change and food security.
It is noteworthy that the US administration approved the allocation of $ 55 billion to Africa over three years for health and response to climate change.
This summit comes in the context of the new “Africa” strategy that was revealed last summer and the announcement of a comprehensive reform of US policy in Sub-Saharan Africa, to confront the Chinese and Russian presence there.