Egypt took a decisive step toward deepening its involvement in international space collaboration this week, as Dr. Sherif Sedky, CEO of the Egyptian Space Agency, participated in the BRICS Space Agencies Summit hosted in the Brazilian capital. The high-level meeting, part of Brazil’s presidency of the BRICS bloc in 2025, brought together heads of space agencies from both founding and new member states.
The BRICS group—originally composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—has recently expanded to include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Iran. The expanded alliance aims to amplify the voice of the Global South on critical global issues, including technological development, climate change, and emerging governance models around artificial intelligence.
Held at a time when geopolitical and scientific interests are increasingly intertwined, the BRICS space summit highlighted the growing strategic importance of space cooperation as both a diplomatic tool and a development lever.
The summit featured a multi-session agenda focusing on key strategic initiatives, most notably the proposed creation of a satellite constellation to support sustainable development goals—an initiative expected to be showcased during the upcoming COP30 climate summit. Discussions also addressed reducing technological disparities among member space agencies and strengthening capacity-building initiatives across the bloc.
“This is more than just a meeting of space agencies,” Dr. Sedky said during one of the sessions. “It is a signal that BRICS members are committed to narrowing the technological divide and ensuring that space is a domain accessible and beneficial to all developing nations.”
In addition to plenary sessions, bilateral meetings were held between agency heads, and delegates were given a guided tour of the Brazilian Space Operations Center (COPE), which plays a pivotal role in Latin America’s aerospace capabilities.
The Egyptian Space Agency highlighted the importance of these engagements as a means of accelerating its domestic capabilities while contributing meaningfully to collective BRICS objectives. Cairo sees space as a vital pillar in its science and innovation agenda, particularly in the realms of climate monitoring, water management, and regional development planning.
The summit underscores a broader shift in global space governance. As competition intensifies between major powers, emerging nations within the BRICS coalition are advocating for more inclusive and equitable models of cooperation, using platforms like this to assert their technological ambitions.
With the COP30 summit on the horizon and mounting pressure for developing countries to secure a stake in the next generation of space technologies, Egypt’s active role at the BRICS summit represents both a diplomatic assertion and a technical investment in the future.
