Djibouti inks $1B deal to set up rocket, satellite launch site

MOGADISHU, Somalia

Djibouti has signed a $1 billion deal with Hong Kong Aerospace Technology Group to set up a rocket and satellite launch site in the country.

The project “also includes the construction of a port and highway of international standing in the northern region of Obock for the transport of materials necessary for the development of aerospace sites,” Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh said in a statement late on Monday.

He said the project will take five years to complete.

“The agreement provides for the final concession of the infrastructure built to the Djiboutian side after 30 years of co-management,”​​​​​​​ Guelleh added.

Djibouti is a small country in the Horn of Africa, bordering Somalia in the south and the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in the east.

The country holds strategic importance as it houses the US’ biggest military facility on the African continent.

China, Japan, and France – Djibouti’s former colonizer – also have military bases in the country.