Tech & Business
3.28.2019
11 countries sign the creation of the first pan-Arab space organization
At the World Space Congress in Abu Dhabi last week, eleven Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and Jordan, signed the first pan-Arab agreement for collaboration in space exploration. An unprecedented agreement, a guarantee of a common will to develop the space sector in the region.
Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Oman… All of them want to aim for the moon. At the World Space Congress organized by the United Arab Emirates Space Agency in Abu Dhabi, 11 countries signed the first pan-Arab agreement to create a new body to develop the region’s space sector, including advocating for joint space exploration.
The agreement was ratified at the World Space Congress, known as the largest gathering of world leaders in the space industry in the Middle East and North Africa. Emir Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, sovereign of Dubai, wanted to announce the news on social networks.
.@HHShkMohd:Today at the Global Space Congress in Abu Dhabi, we attended the signing of a charter to establish the first Arab body for space cooperation, bringing together 11 Arab states. Its first project will be a satellite that Arab scientists will work on from here in the UAE pic.twitter.com/4Lci1xJW0e
— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) March 19, 2019
An unprecedented agreement
More than a simple association of States, the agreement is unprecedented for the countries concerned. The latter, with their own skills and techniques, will ultimately aim to achieve an equal level of capacity for all.
For the time being, the group’s first project will be the creation of a satellite, called “813”, in charge of monitoring climate change. With this choice of name of the satellite, the scientists wanted to honour the year of the foundation of Bayt al-Hikma, the House of Wisdom in Baghdad as well as the creation of the first permanent astronomical observatory in the world in Baghdad under the reign of Caliph Al-Ma’mun.
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