On Wednesday 30 August 2023, a high level Kenyan delegation led by the CS Defence, Hon.
Aden Bare Duale, made a visit to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)
Headquarters in Bengaluru, India. The delegation was met by ISRO senior leadership led by
the Chairman of the Organization, who is also the Secretary of the Department of Space
(DOS) and the Chairman of India’s Space Commission, Mr. Somanath S. CS Duale was
accompanied by Kenya’s High Commissioner to the Republic of India, Mr. Willy Bett,
Acting Director General of the Kenya Space Agency, Brig. Hillary Kipkosgey, and other
senior government officials.
In his remarks, the CS Defence, Hon Duale, congratulated ISRO and the Republic of India
for the successful lunar landing of Chandrayaan-3 moon lander Vikram and the successful
deployment of the rover on the moon surface. He added that the feat was a clear
demonstration of the dedication, hard work, resilience and excellence of the team at ISRO.
He informed the hosts that Kenya was keen on establishing a collaborative partnership with
India on space programmes, and to learn from its successes.
The Kenyan delegation was briefed on India’s space programme and activities, including the
key achievements in downstream applications, development of upstream capabilities, lunar
and deep space exploration activities, growth of the domestic space ecosystem and
international cooperation initiatives, among others.
Both parties then held in-depth discussions on opportunities for collaboration and partnership
between the Kenya Space Agency (KSA) and the Indian Space Research Organization
(ISRO) on capacity building, development of earth observation applications, access to and
sharing of space-derived data, sharing of knowledge and joint projects on small satellites,
among others.
Both sides further agreed to work together in concluding a memorandum of understanding for
space cooperation between KSA and ISRO stipulating specific activities and timelines.
