PROGRESS REPORT AUG – OCT 2004

A         Summary – Brief

The ACAA continued to make considerable and concrete progress in garnering political and financial  support for the AFRO-CAA.

 A summary of activities is given below:

 B          Meetings

1.         Meeting were held with NEPAD’s Reatile Mochabelele and Palesa Molapo after  the AFCAC Plenary in May and again in June and July seeking NEPAD support for  the project.

 2.        Meetings were again held with the Director Generals of the Civil Aviation of Namibia, Nigeria, Ethiopia and South Africa in Montreal, Canada to further discuss first project implementation team meeting agenda.  Discussions were  also held with Libya’s Suliman-Ali-El-Mesallati (Flight Safety Director Libyan Civil Aviation) on the same subject.                  

3.         The ICAO 35^th Session was attended in September-October and discussion were held on the AFRO-CAA with the President and Secretary General, Dr Assad Kotaite and Dr. Taieb Cherif respectively.

 4.         Meetings were held with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington DC.

             World Bank

            a)                  Mark D Tomlinson – Director Regional Intergration Africa Region

b)                  Charles E Schlumberger – Principal Air Transport Specialist

c)                  Jean-Francios Martean – Transport Specialist – AFTTR

International Monetary Fund

a)                  Dr Anupam Basu – Deputy Director

b)                  Dr. Leide Schmitz – Division Chief

5.         Brochures and Informational DVD’s were distributed to major foundations in the United States in New York.

6.         Meetings were held in Montreal with the following two Ministers who declared their support for the Project in Principle;

a)                  Hon.Jeff Radebe – Minister of Transport , South Africa

b)                  Hon. Alhadji Isa Yaguda – Minister of Aviation, Nigeria

7.         Meeting was held with the following FAA officials to introduce the AFRO-CAA.  CAA.

a)                  John R Hancock – Deputy Director International Aviation

b)                  Pearlis E Johnson – Manager Africa Division

c)                  Forest Rawls III – Project Officer, Africa Region

d)                  Micheal D. Bodman – Senior Negotiator (DOT)

8.         A meeting was held with Wrenelle Stander (the Director-General of South Africa’s Ministry of Transport) in which she arranged the venue  for all future project implementation team monthly meetings between interested States.

9.         The NEPAD Dialogue was attended in October in Johannesburg and several of the delegates were briefed about the AFRO-CAA including the African Developing Bank. 

a)                  E.G Taylor Lewis – Director, ONCB Head.

b)                  Dr. Ini J Urua – Principal International Engineer

C         Programme Follow-up/ Marketing

1.         Namibia, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Libya and South Africa are now in agreement to hold meetings to discuss the way forward on the AFRO-CAA.

            Word is still awaited from Egypt.

2.         Promotional DVD’s, CD-ROM’s and VHS Tapes were made and distributed to hundreds of delegates at the ICAO and NEPAD Conferences in Montreal and Johannesburg respectively.

3.         A website (www.afro-caa.com) was opened as per NEPAD’s request to keep stakeholders easily briefed on progress.

D         SADC, EAC, IATA, ECA, AFRAA

Nil

E          MOUs Delevopment

The draft MOUs will be discussed at the first project implementation team meeting scheduled for late November 2004 or early February 2005.

F          AFCAC/NEPAD/ICAO

1.         Meetings with ICAO, NEPAD were mentioned above.

2.         AFCAC’s  President & Secretary (Mr. Peege & Mr.Diop respectively) were given project brochures DVD’s project

3.         NEPAD endorsed the project as a NEPAD project in August and declared that they would stand supportive in mobilizing member countries and identify funding organizations where possible.  NEPAD also requested more information as to where they can add value to the realization of the objective of the project.

4.         Both Dr. Assad Kotaite – President ICAO and Dr. Taieb Cherif – Secretary General ICAO where encouraged by the rapid progress being made.

 G         Legal

Nil

H         Funding

1.         The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund where greatly supportive of the project and indicated they would garner the support of the African Development Bank to fund the project. 

2.         It was agreed with the officials of the African Development Bank that meetings are to be held with them in November 2004 or January 2005 in Tunisia’s Capital of Tunis.

 I           Any other Business

 None