The meeting of the 109th session of the Agency for the Safety of Air Navigation in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA) has opened here with delegates discussing ways to strengthen the regional body's structural foundation in order to promote equity among members.
The ongoing meeting, which is expected to come to a close later on Friday, will see a greater part of its sittings used to look into the official audit report of the organization, the official news agency of Cote d'Ivoire reported on Wednesday.
"Notably, this will include the results of a structural and organizational audit that was recently conducted by a Dutch firm," a source close to the meeting was quoted as saying, noting that the body was facing a growing list of challenges in its operations.
The conclusions of this meeting, said the source, will be the subject of discussion during the ASECNA Council of Ministers meeting at its 48th session on July 11 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.
In addition, the Abidjan meeting will discuss the future of the organization, whose financial situation has worsened in the recent past, particularly following the announcement of the withdrawal of Senegal and Madagascar.
The two countries, according to reliable sources, are demanding autonomy to manage their air space, accusing the regional body of being grossly incompetent.
Speaking during the inaugural meeting, Cote d'Ivoire's Transport Minister Mabri Toikeusse called for the establishment of an agency that is "competitive" in the regulation of air transport safety on the African continent and invited the ASECNA members to work for the establishment of "viable agency pegged to international standards."
Addressing the same session, Gabonese Transport Minister Dieudonne Bohiri, who is also the president of the council of ministers, took time to urge the members to become more involved in managing this "instrument of cooperation."
Further, the Gabonese minister called for measures to help "safeguard the image of the African continent that was increasingly contrasting in the field of aeronautics," especially since the demise of Air Afrique.
The Abidjan-based company, which folded its operations in 2002 following a tumultuous and debt-ridden period, was launched as the flagship carrier for Francophone West Africa in the 1960's.
The ASECNA, whose headquarters are located in Dakar, Senegal, has been entrusted with a particular mission to ensure an "integrated management" of air space and utility of aircraft facilities in its 15 mainly Francophone African members.
Source:Xinhua
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