The 47th Ordinary Session of the African Union’s Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) commenced today. The PRC consist of all Ambassadors of AU Member States that are resident in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the headquarters of the AU and the African Union Commission (AUC).

Prior to the annual Assembly of the AU, the PRC meets to deliberate on various reports of its committees as well as reports of the AUC, and prepares the agenda for the Assembly. The PRC also serves as the “eyes” of the Assembly, overseeing the AUC, making regular reports to the Member States and communicating ‘note verbales’.

A regular item on the PRC’s agenda is Agenda 2063, the continental socioeconomic development framework. Agenda 2063 contains 15 flagship projects, including the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), cybersecurity and the African Outer Space Programme.

Embassies have important roles to play in Africa’s space development, such as:

🚀 hosting of science attaches from their home-countries, who will also be responsible for the space portfolio;

🚀 scoping for potential bilateral, intra-Africa and external space cooperation;

🚀 facilitating the domestication and implementation of the African Space Policy and Strategy in their home-countries.

The AUC can support the embassies and their home-countries by:

🚀 organising trainings and workshops on relevant space topics such as space diplomacy, space governance and space security;

🚀 commemorating international space days, such as International Day of Human Spaceflight on April 12 and World Space Week from 4-10 October, thereby increasing space awareness;

🚀 engaging with the private sector and international community to advance Africa’s interests and positions on space-related issues.