Nigeria and Rwanda signed space agreements with the United States on Tuesday to facilitate the return of humans to the moon by 2025, becoming the first two African countries to sign such agreements with Washington.
The signing of the Artemis Accords came on the sidelines of the African-American summit in Washington, which began today, Tuesday, and will continue until Thursday.
According to a statement from the White House, Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Issa Ali Ibrahim, and the CEO of the Rwanda Space Agency, Francis Ngabu, signed the agreements during the forum in which participants discussed “peaceful exploration” and “the use of outer space.”
The statement added that the forum highlighted the African-American partnership and cooperation in the field of space to address the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century, including responding to climate, biodiversity and global food crises, promoting responsible behavior in outer space, and strengthening scientific and commercial cooperation between Africa and the United States in the field of space. “.
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The Artemis Accords are an extension of the 1967 NASA Outer Space Treaty, which has been signed by 23 countries since its inception in October 2020.