Aviation ministers back consolidation to bail out sector
From Oghogho Obayuwana, Abuja
UNIMPRESSED with the magnitude of the challenges still plaguing the aviation sector in West and Central Africa, the Council of Ministers responsible for Civil Aviation from the two regions ended its one-day meeting in Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire at the weekend, with a resolve to push for greater consolidation as one of the surest ways to bail out the sector.
Incidentally, ten years after an earlier Yamoussoukro agreement on aviation common regulations was signed, the ministers also made other new recommendations meant to improve the sector.
The recommendations, which would now be forwarded to the Heads of State of both ECOWAS and the Economic and Monetary Union of Central Africa (CEMAC), in a bid to address all the constraints to the full and effective implementation of the new Yamousukro decisions include the outright elimination of all forms of non physical barriers in the aviation practices across both regions.
The ministers also want the "urgent creation or consolidation in the member states of civil aviation authorities with the appropriate legal, financial and managerial status to enable them fully and efficiently discharge their mandates under the Yamoussoukro framework."
In a document made available by the ECOWAS commission in Abuja, entitled: "Resolution Relating to the Liberalisation of Air Transport in West and Central Africa" endorsed by the Ivorian Minister of Transport, Dr. Albert Toikeusse Mabri, who chaired the meeting and the other ministers, they called for more means to facilitate the provisions of adequate financial resources for the operations of the national civil aviation authorities and agencies within the air transport system as well as for other regional agencies.
The ministers also agreed on ensuring infrastructural development, a continued improvement of air navigation and airport facilities and services, as well as, the replacement of obsolete equipment in the two regions.
They further proposed the recruitment and maintaining of skilled and adequate manpower through training and retention of competent air transport experts to meet the needs of regulators, operators and air service providers in West and Central Africa.
In addition, they said that as much as possible, the turnover of senior experts at the managerial and technical levels within the national civil aviation authorities should be minimized as a means of promoting stability within these agencies.
They also want expedited, the establishment of the regional agencies on safety, security, accident investigation, search and rescue as well as the harmonisation of technical aviation regulations to enable these agencies work with harmonised principles, regulations and standards.
Moreover, the ministers recommended the creation of a mechanism, in accordance with the guidelines of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), for regulating fees and charges levied on air transport operations in order to control the imposition of arbitrary fees and charges.
To ensure the full implementation of the Yamoussoukro decision, they specifically called on member states to expedite the process of granting traffic rights, especially the fifth freedom traffic rights to eligible airlines. These rights are considered important components of a liberalised air transport market.
While proposing a regular sensitisation of national authorities, donors and partners on the need to support the implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision through the provision of technical and financial resources, the ministers urged a proper coordination of efforts by international organisations and regional agencies in the implementation of the Decision.
The ministers, in addition, stressed the need for concerned stakeholders to expedite action on the ratification of the Cape Town Convention and Protocol, which is an alternative source of aircraft financing and fleet renewal.
In the same vein, they emphasised the need for the African Union Commission to expedite the adoption of the revised African Commission on Civil Aviation (AFCAC) Constitution to enable AFCAC fulfill its mandate as the Executing Agency for the Yamoussoukro Decision as approved by the African Union Summit held in Accra, Ghana in 2007.
They also urged the African Union, ECOWAS, CEMAC, the Banjul Accord Group (BAG) and the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (UEMOA) to adopt and implement the provisions of the Resolution of their meeting within the framework of the organisations' and institutions' respective constituent treaties.
Also among the recommendations, is the appeal for support towards the creation of air transport regional instruments, as well as, calls for the liberalisation of ground handling services in airports and the strengthening of co-operation among airlines.
As a mark of their commitment to the implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision, the ministers agreed to set up a Ministerial Monitoring Committee composed of Cote d'Ivoire as President, Cameroun and Togo as co-Vice Presidents with Chad and Ghana as members. The committee will be assisted by ECOWAS, CEMAC, BAG, UEMOA, members of the Coordination and Monitoring Committee nominated by the two regions, as well as, donors and development partners.
The Council of Aviation Ministers had, at its fourth meeting in November 2008 in Accra, directed the ECOWAS Commission to conduct a country by country assessment of the implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision of 1999.
The Decision, which seeks to liberalise market access and ensure a fast, reliable and affordable air transportation system in West and Central Africa, also guarantees a system of regulations and security control of civil aviation, consistent with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards and practices.
Other representations at the Yamoussoukro meeting included the African Union, UEMOA and other regional institutions, airline companies, associations and organisations, donors and development partners as well as Gabon, Guinea, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, which attended as observers.
