Malabo 29 June 2011: The Heads of State and Government of the African Union, meeting at their 17^th Ordinary Session in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, started their Summit agenda on 30 June 2011, with the placing of the foundation stone of the African Observatory for Science, Technology and Innovation (AOSTI). This institution was established by an Assembly Decision of February 2009 which decided that the headquarters would be in Malabo.  The Host Country Agreement signed between the African Union and the Government of Equatorial Guinea in June 2010 makes provision for the government to provide premises for the headquarters, equipped offices, supplies and the initial financial contribution for the establishment of AOSTI.

The ceremony of the laying of the foundation stone took place in the presence of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo , Chairperson of the African Union (AU) and Mr. Jean Pierre Ezin, Commissioner for Human Resources Science and Technology of the AU Commission.

The vision of AOSTI is to enable Africa to develop, harness and apply science, technology and innovation (STI) to eradicate poverty, achieve sustainable development and ensure that Africans are fully able to contribute to the global pool of scientific knowledge and have the capacity to draw upon and apply that knowledge.

The mission of AOSTI is to collect, process, analyse and disseminate statistical information on STI to support evidence based policy-making in the member states of the African Union and by interested parties, and to collect and review STI policies in member states in order to raise awareness of potential policy mixes, means of implementing policies and ways of measuring impact.