COMESA signs aviation cooperation pact
COMESA has signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) on the implementation of single African air transport market.
Assistant Secretary General Dr Kipyego Cheluget and Ms. Iyabo Sosina, Secretary General of AFCAC, signed on behalf of their respective organizations in Nouakchott, Mauritania.
The MoC is part of the activities of the Roadmap that was developed to implement the Decision of the African Union in 2015, on the establishment of a single African Air Transport Market (SAATM). SAATM was launched in January 2018 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The MoC provides a framework for the coordination and harmonization of roles for the management and oversight of the single market.
Eight African Regional Economic Communities (RECs), provided inputs in the development of the MoC and are in different stages of signing. They include COMESA, EAC, IGAD, SADC, ECOWAS, Arab Maghreb Union, Community of Sahel-Sharan States, and Economic Community of Central African States.
The MOC enters into force and immediately becomes enforceable among the parties that have appended their signatures.
Under the accord, AFCAC and the RECS shall cooperate in undertaking tasks assigned to them under the Yamoussoukro Decision towards ensuring seamless implementation of the Decision and realization of the SAATM. The Decision promotes the principles of air services liberalization.
