A key governance pillar of GMES and Africa holds its inaugural ordinary session

The GMES & Africa Policy Coordination and Advisory Committee (PCAC) has held its inaugural ordinary session in Abidjan, Côte d’ivoire, from 4 to 6 September 2017. PCAC is a key governance pillar of GMES & Africa.

Space is an important enabler for Africa’s sustainable development as well as for the advancement of Science and Technology on the continent stated Dr. Mahama Ouedraogo, Director of Human Resources, Science and Technology of the AUC, opening the meeting. Mr. Christer Hermansson, representative of the European Commission, on his part underlined the continental dimension of the GMES & Africa initiative and the strong support from Copernicus programmes and services. 

In order to facilitate continental and regional policy and priorities alignment with GMES and Africa Support Programme result areas, AUC organizes two continental forums. The Policy Coordination and Advisory Committee (PCAC) meeting is one of them and it is held once a year. Its role is ensuring policy coordination among various stakeholders of the project so that the delivery of the expected results of GMES & Africa Support Programme is facilitated. The recommendations and action points of PCAC is shared with the GMES & Africa Coordination Team for consideration in the implementation process.

The Global Monitoring for Environment and Security and Africa (GMES & Africa) initiative is the result of the longstanding cooperation between Africa and Europe in the area of space science & technology, which is one of the key priorities of the long-term EU-Africa Joint Strategy. GMES & Africa Support Programme is administered by the African Union Commission through the Human Resource, Science and Technology (HRST) Commission.

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