COMESA workshop adopts regional plan to develop air transport system across Africa

By Mohamed Attia

The first session of an endorsement workshop for the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) kicked off in Cairo on Monday, with the participation of member states’ delegations, air navigation service providers and representatives of the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority.

The three-day workshop tackled the theme of adopting a regional institutional framework for deploying interoperable communication, navigation, monitoring, and air transport management systems in the Eastern and Southern Africa and Indian Ocean region. It also aimed to activate the unified African labour market and achieve the African Agenda 2063.

In his opening remarks at the session, Civil Aviation Minister Mohamed Abbas Helmy said Egypt, Chair of COMESA for the 2021-2023 term, is hosting the event in appreciation of its pivotal role in the civil aviation industry.

He also applauded the effective coordination between the ministry and the regional economic bloc to bolster civil aviation co-operation with all countries, especially sisterly African nations.

As defined by its treaty, COMESA was established in 1994 ‘as an organisation of free independent sovereign states, which have agreed to co-operate in developing their natural and human resources for the good of all their peoples.

It has a wide-ranging series of objectives, which necessarily include in its priorities the promotion of peace and security in the region. The COMESA includes 21 African states as members.

Nine of the member states formed a free trade area (FTA) in 2000 (Djibouti, Egypt, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe), with Rwanda and Burundi joining the FTA in 2004, the Comoros and Libya in 2006, Seychelles in 2009 and Tunisia and Somalia in 2018.

In 2008, COMESA agreed on the expansion of free-trade zone to include members of two other African trade blocs, the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). COMESA is also considering a common visa scheme to boost tourism.