NEPAD and ICAO partner on modernising African aviation

Above: ​ICAO Council President Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu (left) and NEPAD CEO Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki (right) formalised a new agreement last week aimed at enhancing ICAO-NEPAD cooperation. The new collaboration between the two agencies is aimed at encouraging greater numbers of national aviation infrastructure and modernisation projects on the continent being included under the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA).
 
“Working cooperatively is, and has always been, fundamental to the aviation sector,” stressed ICAO Council President Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu. “This new framework with NEPAD will allow us to effectively address the development and modernisation of quality aviation infrastructure in Africa, consistent with ICAO’s global and Africa regional planning and commensurate with the exponential traffic growth forecast here.”

The new ICAO/NEPAD Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will formalise and deepen the cooperation between these two organisations, contributing to the implementation of the Declaration and Framework for a Plan of Action for Development of Aviation Infrastructure in Africa, which was adopted at the fourth ICAO World Aviation Forum (Abuja, Nigeria in November 2017).

Both organisations will now be working more closely together in facilitating the movement of persons and goods in Africa, mobilising resources for aviation infrastructure development, implementing NEPAD’s 'MoveAfrica' initiative for the aviation sector, developing e-commerce and training and retaining next generation aviation professionals and promoting gender equity on the continent.

“This collaboration will provide added value for both organizations and improve aviation infrastructure development in Africa,” said NEPAD CEO Dr Ibrahim Mayaki. “It will help strengthen NEPAD’s understanding of the aviation sector and importantly help us to ensure the inclusion of aviation projects in the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA).”