Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and South Sudan have started an initiative to liberalise their aviation sectors to boost business and strengthen regional integration process.Experts from the four countries ended a meeting in Kigali this week, which aimed at harmonising operations and developing the sector further.According to officials, the four countries will organise joint capacity building programmes.The partnership will also include sharing resources, especially in search and rescue, which will allow aircrafts from partner states to intervene in case of any accident in another country.Other areas are harmonisation of airspace control as this will facilitate the free movement of aircraft across the airspace of the four countries.Dr Richard Masozera, the Director General of Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority (RCAA), said member countries were looking at fast-tracking the process as directed by the Heads of State.“The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the challenges and opportunities of integrating our airspace and how this can be fast-tracked in order to meet current and forecasted traffic demands,” he said.He added that during last year’s summit by the four presidents in Kigali, they directed their respective ministers to consider new areas that can be fast-tracked to deepen the integration process, including air space management.
