India and Nigeria have been trying to have formal space cooperation for more than a decade (Representation)
New Delhi:
The Union cabinet was informed on Wednesday of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between India and Nigeria on cooperation in the exploration and peaceful uses of outer space.
The MoU was signed between the Indian Space Research Organization (in Bengaluru in June 2020) and the Nigerian National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) in Abuja (in August 2020)
An official statement said the memorandum of understanding would lead to the establishment of a joint working group, made up of members of the Department of Space (DOS) / ISRO and the National Research and Development Agency. (NASRDA) of Nigeria, which will further develop the action plan. including the timetable and means of implementation.
The statement said India and Nigeria have been trying to have formal space cooperation for more than a decade.
He said that with the initiatives of the Indian High Commission in Nigeria, a draft intergovernmental memorandum of understanding for space cooperation has been shared with the Nigerian authorities through the Ministry of External Affairs.
“After a few iterations through diplomatic channels, both sides came to a viable draft MoU and the same was dealt with for internal approvals.” Although the approvals for the signing of the MoU were obtained on time, the appropriate opportunities / occasions for the signing of this MoU did not materialize due to the cancellation of a few visits to late 2019 and early 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic situation that followed, “the statement said.
