BRUSSELS, Kingdom of Belgium, April 4, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — H.E. Dr. Martial De Paul Ikounga Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology signed a GMES and Africa Cooperative Arrangement Statement with his counterparts from the European Commission Antonio Tajani, Vice-President of the European Commission, responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship, and Andris Piebalgs, Member of the European Commission, responsible for Development
GMES and Africa was launched in Lisbon, Portugal on December 7, 2007 during the 2nd EU – Africa Summit following the Maputo Declaration in 2006 as a long-term framework for cooperation on Earth Observation (EO) through the integration and deployment of African requirements and needs in GMES Services. The objective of cooperation is to promote institutional, human and technical capacities building for the access and exploitation of EO information for security and sustainable development in Africa. The programme looks at the whole range of development challenges such Impacts of Climate Variability Change, Natural and Man-made Disasters, Rural Development and Food Security, Infrastructures and Territorial Development, Management of Conflicts and Political Crisis, and Health Issues among others.
This Cooperative Arrangement is a firm commitment by the two Commissions to start actions for the implementation of agreed cross-cutting and three thematic areas dealing with (a) Long-Term Management of Natural Resources, (b) Marine and Coastal Areas Monitoring, (c) Water Resources Management while working to finalize the remaining chapter of GMES and Africa action plan.
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