The Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani opened the Italy-Africa Space Conference at the Farnesina. An operational follow-up in the space sector to the Italy-Africa Summit of January 2024, the event aims to initiate a dialogue, both bilateral and multilateral, with about twenty African countries with space capabilities.

"Since the beginning of my mandate, I have promoted space diplomacy, a tool capable of fostering progress, strengthening Italian competitiveness, and facilitating new synergies between the scientific and industrial worlds in strategic sectors and countries," Tajani said, noting that "Italy can represent a reliable and open interlocutor for long-term equal collaboration with African countries with space capabilities, within the broader framework of the Mattei Plan."

The event will feature interventions from the Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy and President of the Interministerial Committee for Space and Aerospace Research Policies, Adolfo Urso, the Undersecretary of State to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Alfredo Mantovano, the President of the Piedmont Region, Alberto Cirio, the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation of Ghana, Ophelia Mensah, and the Minister of Communications and Technology of Somalia, Mohamed Adam Moalim. The debate will focus on three fundamental pillars: education and training, space applications and services for a sustainable future, and international partnerships.

Particular emphasis will be given to the high profile that Italy enjoys internationally in the space field, thanks to its complete supply chain of products and expertise in the sector, and to the vision that our country promotes in all multilateral forums. At the conclusion of the event, the President of the Italian Space Agency, Teodoro Valente, the President of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (Copuos) and President of the Egyptian Space Agency, Mohamed Sedky, and the President of the African Space Council of the African Union, Tidiane Ouattara, will speak for a session dedicated to space cooperation activities between Italy and Africa (9colonne)