The AU-EU Cooperation on Satellite navigation was initiated within the second Action Plan of Tripoli (3rd Africa-EU summit in 2010). This Action Plan placed satellite navigation among the priorities of the 3rd thematic partnership on regional economic integration, trade and infrastructure, and made it possible to undertake the first actions in terms of capacity building in Africa. Among these actions, the intra-ACP framework program called "Support for the air transport sector and satellite services in Africa," and financed by the 10th European Development Fund, was initiated with to;
- Support the improvement of aviation safety and efficiency of air navigation in Africa.
- Support Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) applications (based on EGNOS technology) in maritime and non-aviation sectors: railway, road transport, agriculture, mining, mapping etc.
The latter component on support to the introduction of satellite navigation in Africa based on EGNOS facilitated capacity building for development and introduction of EGNOS services in Africa. It also enabled the set-up, staffing and operations of the EGNOS-Africa Joint Programme Office (JPO) now called SatNav Africa Joint Programme Office (JPO).