ICAO seminar opens in Accra

Dr Richard Anane, Minister of Roads and Transport on Monday said Civil Aviation Authorities in Africa (CAAA) were beginning to properly restructure and resource their safety outfits to fall in line with International Aviation Standards (IAS).

He noted that the attacks on the World Trade Centre (WTC) had heightened stringent regulatory requirements of safety and security in the airline industry.

The Minister was speaking in Accra at the opening of an International Civil Aviation (ICA) regional seminar on the implementation of safety oversight.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) are organizing the nine-day conference.

About 70 participants from over 10 Western and Central African countries made up of stakeholders in the aviation industry as well as officials from ICAO and the US Federal Aviation Administration are attending it.

The Minister noted that the actions of civil aviation authorities in Africa, to restructure their safety regulations geared towards positioning civil aviation authorities to perform their safety oversight functions more effectively, would make the continent more competitive.

Dr Anane said the government of Ghana was aware of the vital linkage between civil aviation and economic development and would, therefore, do everything in its power to encourage the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority to give priority to safety issues.

Captain Joe Afriye Boachie, Director General of GCAA, said Ghana had accepted to site ICAO Regional Training centre in Accra to harmonize and improve upon the safety standards in the West and Central African Region.

He said Ghana's acceptance to host the seminar was in consonance with the Authority's resolve to constantly seek ways of improving upon its safety oversight capacity.

"We also see the event as important in our collective effort towards the achievement of harmonization of safety oversight practice in the Africa and the Indian Ocean Region."

In a message read on his behalf, Mr Amadou Theiffou, Regional Director of ICAO, said such a seminar would improve the awareness of their sovereign responsibilities regarding safety and aviation security and reduce the alarming safety and security issues that hitherto existed in Africa.

"Indeed the aviation community cannot afford any tragic accident when air traffic has fallen drastically to the extent that well developed airlines have been compelled to fold up", he said.