Yesterday morning, an important meeting was held in Rome between the Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, who also has the delegation for his country's space and aerospace policies, and the Minister of Defence, with the same delegation.

On the discussion table, as can be imagined, is the issue of the 'Luigi Broglio' Space Centre in Malindi - Ngomeni, after a series of controversies (more parliamentary and media than in high places) and misunderstandings in recent months, but also positive meetings, such as the one between Duale himself and the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella in Malindi, and between Mattarella himself and the Kenyan leader William Ruto in Nairobi.

The one in Rome, which was also attended by Italian Space Agency (Asi) president Teodoro Valente and his Kenyan counterpart, James Aruasa, is the first since the agreement between the two countries came into force, which renewed the Kenya-Italy collaboration for the Broglio Space Centre until 2035.

In a note from the ministry, reported by Ansa, it is explained that during the meeting ""the attention of the government and the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, towards the African continent was emphasised with the 'Mattei Plan', which includes a chapter on space cooperation that is declined through industrial and training policies.

In the idea of the two countries there are new projects that will concern, among other things, the training of Kenyan engineers and the creation of a regional centre for Earth observation.

'Our government is keen to take the collaboration with Kenya a quantum leap forward,' explained Minister Urso, 'we want to create a joint venture in the commercial and industrial spheres. The link between the space agencies of our two countries, which is already solid, will be further strengthened through the commitment of the Italian agency to provide support to its Kenyan counterpart. With Minister Duale, we agreed to meet in Kenya in January to monitor the progress of the projects approved so far and to visit the facilities of the Malindi base, which we hope will become a centre of excellence not only for Kenya, but for the entire African continent".