Somalia and Qatar have discussed closer cooperation on air navigation, aviation safety and security during regional civil aviation meetings in Doha.
Qatar’s Civil Aviation Authority said its acting head, Mohamed bin Faleh Al-Hajri, held separate talks with aviation chiefs from Somalia and seven other countries on the sidelines of the eighth meeting of Middle East civil aviation directors-general.
The authority’s 28 October statement identified air transport and the exchange of technical expertise among the subjects discussed. The regional gathering was hosted by Qatar in cooperation with the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Middle East office.
The other participating countries in Al-Hajri’s bilateral meetings were Yemen, Oman, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania and Sudan. The discussions concerned cooperation between regulators responsible for the systems that guide aircraft, oversee operators and protect passengers and airport facilities.
For Somalia, the Doha talks follow an aviation safety agreement signed in Mogadishu on 18 October. Under that memorandum, the Somali Civil Aviation Authority will recognise two International Air Transport Association audit programmes as acceptable ways of demonstrating compliance with national regulations, complementing the authority’s own oversight, according to African Press Agency.
The programmes are the IATA Operational Safety Audit, which covers airline operations, and the IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations. The agreement was signed by Transport Minister Mohamed Farah Nuh, Somali aviation director-general Ahmed Moallim Hassan and IATA regional vice-president Kamil Alawadhi.
The safety agreement forms part of IATA’s Focus Africa initiative to improve aviation performance across the continent. It gives Somalia an additional set of recognised audit standards while leaving national regulatory oversight with the Somali authority.
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