Ministers
call for speedy implementation of Yamoussoukro Decision
By Andrew Allimadi
Ministers of Transport and Infrastructure from West and Central Africa met on the 2nd December 2004 to review the implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision in the West and Central African sub-region.
Hon. Paul Mba Abbessole, the Vice Prime Minster and Minster of Transport and Civil Aviation of the Republic of Gabon chaired the meeting.
T
he ministers reviewed constraints
being experienced by member states and airlines in fully implementing the Decision and
benefiting from its provisions. These constraints were presented in a report by the
committee of experts monitoring the implementation of Yamoussoukro Decision, which also
met in Gabon from 29 - 30 November.
The Experts include the Trade and Regional Integration Division (TRID) of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the Government of Gabon, African Union, AFCAC, AFRAA, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC).
In their report, the experts recommended that all member States enact legislation incorporating the Decision at the national level and repeal all contradictory laws; establish appropriate institutions to address financial and human resource constraints; commit to addressing safety issues; set an enabling environment for the creation of sub-regional airlines or integrated services across the sub-region; fully liberalize ground handling and where traffic volume may not permit more than one service provider, establish a policy of periodic re-tendering to introduce competition; and ensure that civil aviation administrations or competent authorities exercise effective monitoring of handling companies based on appropriate performance standards.
The Ministers issued a resolution endorsing the recommendations of experts and calling on all member States to speed up the implementation of the Decision. The ministers directed the Committee of experts to finalize the draft texts on a set of common Air Transport Economic Regulations (with rules on carrier licensing, market access, slot allocation, passenger protection, fair competition, etc); with defined modalities for its application and enforcement
Electronic copies of the resolution and other papers submitted at the ministerial and experts meeting are available on the meeting website (http://www.uneca.org/trid/meetings/gabon/default.htm )