Ime Akpan
The minister of state for aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika and other Africa ministers of transportation have appealed to the remaining countries that are yet to adopt the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) to do so.
The ministers who made the appeal at the Second Ordinary Session of the African Union Specialised Technical Committee in Transport, Transcontinental and Inter-regional Infrastructure, Energy and Tourism held in Cairo, Egypt said only 28 Africa countries had so far shown interest in the SAATM.
In the resolution, the ministers urged “all the remaining member states to join SAATM, ratify the African Road Safety Charter, the Revised Maritime Transport Charter and the Africa Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) Constitution.
“We, the ministers in charge of Transport Transcontinental and Inter-regional Infrastructure, Energy and Tourism meeting in Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt on 16 and 17 April 2019,in the Second Session of the Specialized Technical Committee on Transport, Transcontinental and Inter-regional Infrastructure, Energy and Tourism , organized by the African Union Commission (AUC) in collaboration with the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt to consider strategies for developing smart infrastructure to boost Africa’s continental transformation and integration.
“We, the ministers, reiterating our commitment to develop Transport, Transcontinental and Interregional Infrastructure, Energy and Tourism sectors and our strong will to implement the outcome of the meeting as we have agreed,” said the ministers.”
The committee of ministers also requested the African Union Commission (AUC) to take appropriate measures to accelerate the development of the African integrated High Speed Railway Network (AIHSRN) flagship project, revitalisation of the Union of Africa Railways (UAR) and speed up operationalisation of SAATM.
They also called on the African Development Bank (AfDB) to continue providing support and mobilise more financial resources for priority intercontinental transport sector programmes such as SAATM and implementation of African Plan of Action for Road Safety.
Besides, the committee appealed to member states to speed up signing and or ratification of pending legal instrument related to infrastructure, notably Maritime Charter, Yamoussoukro Declaration (YD), SAATM, AFREC Convention and Road Safety Charter.
The current member States that have subscribed to the commitment are: Benin, Burkina Faso, Botswana, Capo Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Togo and Zimbabwe.
