Cabinet approves India-Nigeria Space Cooperation

On October 21, 2020, the Union Cabinet approved the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Indian Space Research Organisation and the National Space Research and Development agency of Nigeria.

About the MoU

The agreements were signed in June 2020 at Bengaluru and in August 2020 at Abuja Nigeria. The agreements enable cooperation between the countries in the areas such as

• satellite communication
• satellite based navigation
• Remote Sensing of the earth
• space systems and ground systems
• practical applications of space Technology. This includes techniques and geospatial tools.

Under the agreement a joint working group is to be set up by drawing members from the national space research and development agency of Nigeria and the ISRO.

Impact

The agreement will provide impetus to explore new research activities. It will also help to explore possible applications in the field of Remote sensing of the earth satellite, Navigation satellite, communication space science and Exploration of outer space.

Expenditure

The funds to conduct the programmes under the agreements will be provided by the signatories in accordance to the laws and regulations of their respective legislation.

India Nigeria

Nigeria is rich and oil. According to Nigeria India has recently replaced the United States as its largest crude oil Importer. Around 20 to 25 percentage of India’s domestic oil demand is covered by Nigeria. Therefore, Nigeria is highly important to India.

The bilateral trade between India and Nigeria is around 10 billion USD per annum. Several Indian Oil Companies are involved in oil drilling operations in Nigeria. There are plans to setup refineries in Nigeria.

Nigeria is the largest Oil supplier to India in Africa. India imports 400 mm barrels of oil from Nigeria per day.

Recent developments

• In September 2020, India and Nigeria agreed to deepen their cooperation in piracy, terrorism and insurgency. The countries also agreed to strength cooperation in mutual legal assistance, extradition Treaty and transfer of sentenced persons.

In July 2020, India donated 50 million USD of essential medicines to Nigeria to fight covid

Month: Current Affairs - October, 2020