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Conference of
African Ministers Dr. K. Y. Amoako, Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire Mr. Prime Minister, I am extremely honoured and pleased to be among you today in Yamoussoukro, in this beautiful administrative and historic capital of Côte d’Ivoire. Indeed, it was in this city in 1988 that the Yamoussoukro Declaration on a New African Air Transport Policy was born. On behalf of the Economic Commission for Africa, let me at the outset thank His Excellency Mr. Henri Konan Bédié, President of the Republic, the Government and the people of Côte d’Ivoire for their warm welcome and hospitality. Allow me to also thank His Excellency Adama Coulibaly for his personal commitment to the development of air transport in Africa and for everything he has done to make it possible for us to meet here for the second time. Air transport holds tremendous promise and potential for eliminating physical barriers to trade and economic cooperation in Africa. Given the high transaction costs of doing business in the region, a functioning air transport system is an important and necessary condition for regional integration. It allows African products to reach the most distant markets within the shortest time possible. It links land-locked and small-island States to the mainstream of development, opening up opportunities for enhanced intra-African trade, tourism and other economic activities. Indeed the global air transport industry is booming. It has a gross annual turnover of more than one billion US dollars, and has created some 24 million jobs. In the past 30 years, air traffic has doubled every decade, thus outstripping by nearly 200 per cent the growth of global GDP. Tourism is also booming as a result, with the WTO predicting that global tourism turnover will double by 2005. As you know, last year Africa was one of the prime tourist destinations in the world. The continent’s share of air travellers is projected to nearly treble in the coming two decades. Yet, as we move into a new millennium, with great promise for global air transport, the African industry continues to face significant challenges and constraints. The performance of our small African airlines remains inadequate. In 1998, with 540 aircraft, the 33 airlines members of the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) accounted for only 57 million passenger/kilometres. Compare this to the performance of British Airways alone, which – with little more than half the number of Africa’s fleet – accounted in 1997 for close to 100 million passenger/kilometres. Africa currently accounts for less than two percent of global air traffic. Several airports in Africa need resources to undertake expansion, renewal and maintenance work. Private sector participation is handicapped by the limited size of markets, inadequate financing and payment risks, and political instability and, most of all, the lack of appropriate regulatory frameworks. While deregulation in the United States and liberalization of the industry in Europe have lowered operating costs considerably, resulting in lower tariffs, efficient and affordable services for travellers, air transport operating costs and tariffs in Africa remain among the highest in the world. Consider this Mr. Chairman, Regular flights between Geneva and New York can cost as little as US$300 dollars per ticket. Similarly, a flight from New York to Amsterdam costs no more than 164 dollars. But, in the present regulatory environment, these amounts would not cover the cost of two hours of flying time within some subregions of Africa. Furthermore – largely due to unwieldy bureaucracy, equipment and personnel shortfalls, poor quality service on the ground the facilitation standards in African airports often fail to conform to internationally established norms. It is a sad fact of life for those of us whose work necessitates travel between subregions that it takes much longer on average to travel within Africa than between Europe and America. Sometimes, we are even forced to transit through Europe to get from one African country to another In 1988, Honourable Ministers, your predecessors met here in Yamoussoukro to develop a blueprint for tackling these profound challenges, towards a more robust and vibrant sector. Out of this historic meeting came the Yamoussoukro Declaration, which provides the backdrop for our meetings and deliberations in the coming days. The Declaration’s focus was on economic and regulatory aspects of the industry. It aimed to build airline competitiveness by promoting mergers and consortiums, while at the same time facilitating the regulatory environment in which they would operate. As we have since come to realize, however, a major shortcoming of the Declaration was that it failed to address the issue of capacity and internal reform needed for restructuring and improving the efficiency of these airlines. In addition, it did not clearly address what needed to be done to bring civil aviation infrastructure and systems up to global standards. Furthermore, it did not have a binding character, and at times even contradicted existing legal provisions at national and subregional levels. As things stand today, the dream of an intra-African network remains to be fully realized, while cooperation between airlines is far from being achieved. Notwithstanding these shortcomings, some countries have made good progress in reforming their aviation industries towards implementing the provisions of the Yamoussoukro Declaration. A case in point is the liberalization of air services between Kenya and Uganda, which raised flight frequency from three to 23 a week and reduced tariffs under this arrangement by more than 30 per cent. Subregional organizations such as ECOWAS, CEMAC,COMESA and the Arab Civil Aviation Commission have also taken bold decisions to liberalize air traffic and establish a single airspace. In a good number of cases, restructuring and institutional reforms of civil aviation organizations and airlines resulted in clearly defined and apportioned roles for all stakeholders. Beyond the strengths and weaknesses of the Declaration itself, we also need to recognize that since 1988, the civil aviation world has changed dramatically. Individual country markets are being opened up, as world trade takes on a new momentum. This has been accompanied by widespread deregulation of the air transport industry, demands for the industry to cope with increased volume, the need for more stringent safety standards, aviation security and more environment-friendly regulations. The technological advances of the last decade alone have rendered much of Africa’s air transport hardware and software obsolete. In light of the new dynamics and realities at hand, we need to respond with new strategies that can develop the African air transport industry so that it can substantially contribute to Africa’s development and enable its full participation in the global economy. Such strategies should clearly be crafted with the spirit of Yamoussoukro firmly in mind. Honourable Ministers, For civil aviation to play its role in Africa’s development, appropriate reforms should be undertaken to develop and design new approaches to air transport regulation and service provision so as to guarantee our airlines a level of market access that matches international competition. The approach to implementing the spirit of the Yamoussoukro Declaration must shift away from that taken in 1988. As I indicated earlier, that approach gave priority to the creation of African airline conglomerates. We much now shift that priority to the integration f Africa’s airspace. We must now shift that priority to the integration of Africa’s airspace. We must also endeavour to build our negotiating capacity and improve our bargaining position for concluding alliances, code-sharing and capacity reservation arrangements. We should also create the necessary conditions for the participation of the private sector and our governments should, in turn, assure the optimal regulatory environment. The working group of civil aviation, airlines, African organizations and UN Specialized Agencies Representatives that you have set up has formulated some of the strategies to which I have just drawn your attention in the document entitled "Draft Decision on Liberalization of Access to Air Transport Markets in Africa". At this juncture, I would like to thank all those who assigned experts to join the working group and also to express my appreciation to the experts for the competence and diligence with which they accomplished their assignment. I would be remiss in my duty if I did not express my gratitude to AFRAA for graciously hosting the first meeting of the working group in Nairobi and for contributing to the substantive servicing and financial arrangements which made that meeting a success. Captain Mohammed Ahmed, Secretary General of AFRAA, and his organization, deserve special commendation for this sterling effort. Since August this year, your experts have had the opportunity to review the Draft Decision within their national contexts. Over the past four days, they have also had an opportunity to share ideas on a regional basis. The amended text is now submitted to you for approval. While the Chairman of the meeting of experts will be presenting the Draft Decision formally to you, I would like to draw your attention to the following salient features of the Draft:
Honourable Ministers, The experts are also proposing a follow-up mechanism designed for strict enforcement of this Draft Decision, a pragmatic mechanism that is essential to the development of the air transport industry in Africa. Your approval of this Draft will greatly facilitate the establishment of a reliable and efficient African air transport network that meets the needs of its clients. New operators who can meet the safety and reliability criteria will emerge in the market. Service quality will improve through competition and several service and tariff range options will become available. By the year 2002, our airlines will benefit from a larger market and a flexible air service development policy. They will also be in a position to conclude alliance and cooperation arrangements so as to be better placed to compete with non-African airlines. Once you have carefully reviewed and endorsed the document before you, the Draft Decision will be submitted to the policy organs of the regional economic communities and to the next Summit of heads of State of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) for endorsement. The Decision will then become legally binding on all signatories. Let me assure you that the Economic Commission for Africa will spare no effort in assisting its member States to implement the provisions of the Decision. Towards this end – in order to work out the implementation modalities and to ensure harmonization of related activities – we plan to hold sub regional consultations alongside this meeting. The results of these consultations will form part of ECA’s work programme in the area of air transport. Mr. Chairman, As we stand on the threshold of a new century, all of us gathered here agree that strong, efficient, safe and affordable air services are a sine qua non for intra-regional trade as well as for Africa’s integration into the global economy. As such, the Decision that you are poised to adopt will be a historic decision that will galvanize Africa’s meaningful participation in the global economy of the new millennium. Thank you for your kind attention, and I wish you every success in your deliberations. |
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