Kigali from the 7-10 June 2016- Civil Aviation authorities of Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) States are gathered in Kigali for a first Communication, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management  workshop and 4^th Project Steering Committee Meeting to discuss major sector challenges.

This workshop was officially opened by Honourable Dr. Alexis NZAHABWANIMANA, Minister of State in Charge of Transport in the Ministry of Infrastructure whereby 50 Delegates comprising all COMESA Member States, Regional and International Organizations as well as aviation consulting firms’ Experts are sharing experiences on how to address challenges that are still hindering the aviation sector in Africa.

Speaking to the workshop participants, Honourable Dr. Alexis NZAHABWANIMANA said the COMESA Airspace Integration Project outcome is expected to set the operational options for the provision of seamless airspace and air navigation services within the COMESA Region.

He commended the good track on which civil aviation is progressing in Africa though there are still many challenges to be addressed.  “Liberalization of air space in Africa has brought tremendous growth to our industry in terms of improved services, better choices and wide route networks for the airlines increase in aircraft movement and passengers traffic but this liberalization has to take into account strategies for the provision of safe air navigation services especially from the regulatory and operational point of view.” Said Honourable Dr. Alexis NZAHABWANIMANA

The Minister stressed that the desire of COMESA member states is to establish seamless airspace operations in the region, with the aim of reducing delays, lowering costs, mitigating the negative impact of air transport operations on the environment and enhance air safety.

Currently, the COMESA Secretariat secured approximately 10 million USD from the African Development Bank to implement the Airspace Integration Project. This funding is a grant to COMESA which is given as part of the Bank’s mandate as an institution of the Africa Union to support Infrastructure development and services across the continent.

During the implementation of the project, Member States through their agencies responsible for civil aviation, the civil aviation authorities and security agencies will participate and support the project.

The project is preparing the legal and regulatory documents by sharing countries’ achievements so as to harmonize laws across the member states in aviation industry. It is expected that the project preparation will end in June 2017 and pave way for the implementation stage to make Africa open to movement rights.