NAIROBI, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Satellite communication has the potential to boost economic growth in Africa, an official with the African Union Commission (AUC) said on Wednesday.
Mahama Ouedraogo, director of the department of human resources, science and technology at the AU Commission said that adoption of satellite communication will hasten realization of Africa's growth and transformation agenda.
"It is unfortunate that Africa's involvement is very weak in adopting the technology yet it represents a huge socio-economic development opportunity," Ouedraogo said at the African Technology Policy Studies (ATPS) annual forum in Nairobi.
He urged governments to invest in earth observation science since it has the potential of helping solve challenges like food insecurity and natural disasters.
Ouedraogo said that from 1998 to May 2019, African states launched 35 satellites mainly in the areas of earth observation, communications satellites, technology demonstration, scientific experiments, educational project and military radar satellite.
He said that the African space industry is currently worth about 7.37 billion U.S. dollars and is expected to increase by 40 percent to 10.29 billion dollars by 2024.
"The new space startups in Africa have recently attracted investment at over 200 million dollars of combined valuations," said Ouedraogo.
"The AU has initiated the African space agency that has been adopted by the member states to be headquartered in Egypt," Ouedraogo said.
He said that the launch of a continental space agency will save countries huge cost of accessing digital services.
George Magoha, cabinet secretary in Kenya's Ministry of Education urged scientists to adopt international best practices that can improve the welfare of communities.
