The AEGOS Project, in which the Southern and Eastern African Mineral Centre (SEAMIC) is a partner, was promoted at the 29th Governing Council annual meeting of SEAMIC held in Luanda, Angola from May 25-29th, 2009 where six member states ministers* responsible for mining met to discuss the mining climate and environment in the Southern and Eastern African sub-region. Other activities of SEAMIC were also discussed.

The Director General of SEAMIC briefed the meeting about the objectives of AEGOS during this preparatory phase and the role AEGOS will play in capacity building to member states in the areas of geodata management, exchange of geodata, technology transfer, and the exchange of experience between African and European experts.

The ministers were furthermore informed that during the implementation of AEGOS at the second phase, the African states who participate in the project will benefit from the capacity building efforts in the areas of human resources development in the geoscience fields of specialisations, and acquisition of appropriate georesources software and hardware. The Director also informed the ministers of the countries that are not yet members of AEGOS that they should contact the Project Coordinator to apply for membership should they wish to participate in the future.

* Angola, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda.