Nigeria and Rwanda became the first African nations to have signed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Artemis Accords at the first-ever U.S-Air Space Forum.

The signing took place at the US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington DC, by Nigeria’s Minister of Communication and Digital Infrastructure, Prof. Isa Pantami, and Rwanda’s Chief Executive Officer for Space Agency, Col. Francis Ngabo.

Col. Francis Ngabo said that the treaty will “enable shared opportunities for peaceful space explorations that will benefit humanity through the discovery of solutions for cutting-edge space technologies, and advances in medicine”.

Bill Nelson, NASA Administrator said in his remarks that the Artemis Accords is all about what we should do peacefully in space, signaling the intention to help each other out, standardization of instruments so we can come to each other’s aid when there is a problem”.

The Artemis Accords was drafted by NASA and the US Department of State and represents a series of non-binding multilateral agreements between the US government and other world governments participating in the Artemis program.

23 nations with the addition of the two signatories have declared their commitment to transparent, safe, and sustainable space exploration.