Conclusion of the 2nd annual African Square Kilometre Array Ministerial meeting held on 25 March 2015 in Pretoria
The second annual SKA African Partner Countries Ministerial Meeting concluded with several key agreements having been reached, propelling the African Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network (AVN) and SKA projects forward.
The gathering was attended today by a number of ministers and representatives: the Minister of Infrastructure, Science and Technology of Botswana, Nonofo Molefhi; the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Madagascar, Marie Monique Rasoazananera; the Vice Minister of Science and Technology of Mozambique, Dr Leda Florinda Hugo; and the Minister of Science, Technology and Vocational Training of Zambia, Dr Michael Kaingu.
The Mauritian and Namibian ministers were represented by the Permanent Secretary of Education and Human Resources, Tertiary Education and Scientific Research, Ms Nema Devi Goorah, and the Permanent Secretary of Education, Mr Alfred IIukena, respectively. Ghana was represented by head of delegation, Mr Alexander Kwaning.
The African SKA Ministerial Meeting was convened to discuss and finalise the following issues:
- The SKA African Partner Countries memorandum of understanding.
- The SKA African Readiness Strategy and Joint Implementation Plan.
This was in line with the resolutions of the first SKA African Partner Countries Ministerial Meeting, in March 2015, at which the ministers committed their countries to finalising the SKA Readiness Strategy and Joint Implementation Plan by the end of this month, in preparation for hosting the SKA and AVN projects.
The issues agreed to by the various parties involved in the discussions include working together on the Big Data Africa Programme for Radio Astronomy to build capacity and skills that will position Africa for opportunities in the big data revolution.
The parties also agreed to work on the human capital development programme, which is aimed at developing the requisite scientific and engineering skills for the SKA and AVN projects.
The ministers agreed to work towards a governance framework for radio astronomy initiatives, in particular the SKA and AVN projects, and to provide political and strategic leadership to SKA African partner countries on the AVN, SKA and other relevant astronomy programmes and initiatives.
The African SKA partner countries' ministers also committed themselves to participating effectively in the Joint Africa-European Union Strategic Partnership and the African-European Radio Astronomy Platform (AERAP) programmes and activities.
In this context, they agreed to work rapidly to finalise the funding proposal for the new Pan-African instrument created by the European Union to support large-scale science and infrastructure partnerships.
Among the principles adopted for working on the AVN projects, parties agreed to make provision for operational, maintenance and upgrade costs associated with the respective AVN observatories.
Parties will also work together to mobilise additional funding resources for the capital expenditure required to set up the AVN observatories, and will make available the land and associated infrastructure (roads, power, etc.) needed for the AVN project.
The meeting concluded with an expression of hope that – when South Africa hosts the African Union (AU) Summit in June this year – leaders of all the African countries will be able to report on the role they were playing in the implementation of the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa, in particular with regard to human capital development, as well as progress made on the AVN and the SKA.
Enquiries:
Veronica Mohapeloa, Media Liaison Officer
Cell: 082 882 3818
E-mail: veronica.mohapeloa@dst.gov.za
Ministerial enquiries:
Lunga Ngqengelele, Ministerial Spokesperson
Cell: 082 566 0446
E-mail: lunga.ngqengelele@dst.gov.za
