The President of the French national space agency, the Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES), Jean-Yves Le Gall, visited Dakar, Senegal, on 12 December 2019 to take part in the commemorations marking the 60th anniversary of the Agency for the Safety of Air Navigation in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA).
Speaking to an audience of high-level representatives from ASECNA member states and from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Le Gall pointed to the remarkable success it has achieved and underlined France and CNES’s commitment to supporting air navigation in Africa with space assets.
On the sidelines of this event, CNES and the Senegalese Ministry for Higher Education, Research, and Innovation stepped up their cooperation with the signature of a roadmap enabling France and Senegal to pursue their desire to work together. In particular, the roadmap covers Earth observation, the use of satellite imagery and applications to study ecosystems, access to in-situ and satellite data for research purposes, training of personnel and the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters. A first seminar bringing together French and Senegalese teams will be held in the first half of 2020.
During his talks with ASECNA and the Ministry for Higher Education, Research, and Innovation, Jean-Yves Le Gall emphasized Europe’s involvement through EGNOS in implementing an operational augmentation system for air navigation in Africa. The Space Climate Observatory (SCO) was also a key topic of discussion with a view to getting more nations to unite their efforts to tackle climate change.