DECISION ON THE AFRICAN SQUARE KILOMETRE
ARRAY (SKA) PROJECT
Doc. Assembly/AU/14(XVIII) Add. 7
The Assembly,
RECALLS its Kampala Decision Assembly/AU/Dec. 303(XV) endorsing the African bid to host the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) on the African continent;
WELCOMES the progress made by Republic of South Africa in submitting the final African SKA bid documents to the Founding Board of the SKA;
ALSO EXPRESSES ITS GRATITUDE to Botswana, Ghana, Namibia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Kenya and Zambia under the coordination of the Republic of South Africa, for providing diplomatic, regulatory, technical and logistical support for this bid;
ENCOURAGES the parties concerned to intensify efforts and continue to support the on-going processes and mobilize the support of the international community;
STRESSES the significant potential of investment in African Radio Astronomy initiatives, such as the planned African Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) Network, to rapidly enhance Africa’s science and technology capacities, and therefore;
PROPOSES the inclusion of Radio Astronomy as a priority focus area for Africa’s international science and technology partnerships, such as the Eighth Africa- European Union (EU) Partnership on Science, Information Society and Space;
CALLS UPON other Member States, the Commission, and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to support the African SKA bid both directly and in all relevant forums were such support would promote the success of the bid, leading towards the final decision expected to be made in 2012.