The GMES and Africa Technical Experts Committee (TEC) has held its first meeting in Tunis from 14-16 May 2018.  The Committee comprises Consortia of African institutions awarded to implement the GMES and Africa grants, as well as EU affiliates EUMETSAT, JRC, and the Technical Assistance Team of GMES and Africa.

At the Tunis meeting, participants took a closer look at the proposals submitted by Consortia, focusing mainly on identifying the infrastructure and data needs of each consortium, their service development methodologies, training and communications needs, as well as performance indicators underpinned by the GMES & Africa Logical Framework. 

The GMES and Africa Programme Coordinator and Space Science Expert at the African Union Commission, Dr. Tidiane Ouattara, said the meeting was an opportunity to identify the roles and responsibilities of all actors and stakeholders, and to design an integrated implementation road-map. Preparations for the signing of implementation contracts with selected Consortia are at a final stage and the signing is slated for the first week of June 2018. 

At the meeting, EUMETSAT affirmed to all GMES and Africa partners and the 13 consortia that they can obtain license enabling them to access its data and products free of charge. The Joint Research Commission (JRC) also expressed its commitment to providing technical support for the 13 consortia to implement the GMES and Africa Support Programme. The technical support include training on usage of EO data, eStation software and onsite support.

The representative of the European Union Delegation to the AU, Pietro NARDI, called upon the GMES and Africa Support Programme to collaborate and create synergies with other European Union-funded initiatives and projects in Africa. These initiatives include: the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction; the Great Green Wall and African Risk Capacity. ​