Opening of the 40th ICAO General Assembly in Montreal
The delegation of Cameroon, led by the Minister of Transport, Jean Ernest Masséna NGALLE BIBEHE, took part on Tuesday, September 24, 2019, in the opening ceremony of the 40th session of the General Assembly of the Civil Aviation Organization International (ICAO).
The ceremony was presided over by the President of the ICAO Council, Dr. OLUMUYIWA Benard Aliu, in the presence of the Prime Minister of Quebec, the Deputy Minister of Transport of Canada, the Mayor of Montreal and representatives of 175 member states and some 60 international organizations.
Cameroon's Minister of Transport made a speech during the plenary following the opening of the 40th session. In his statement, the Minister outlined Cameroon's significant actions to improve the performance of the aviation sector during the 2016-2019 triennial, in line with ICAO's relevant strategic objectives.
This presentation highlighted five main areas:
In the area of safety, he reflected on the various advances made in strengthening the national safety oversight system, including the start of the certification process for Yaounde international airports. Nsimalen and Douala, as well as the implementation of the extensive rehabilitation and modernization of airport infrastructure and air navigation.
On the security front, he stressed, on the one hand, that the level of implementation of ICAO's recommended standards and practices has been identified and, on the other hand, that the reorganization of the national security system is effective and is reflected in the implementation of security operations at Yaounde-Nsimalen and Douala international airports. All of these efforts were recognized by the results of the April 2018 ICAO audit, which resulted in Cameroon's compliance rate of 70.96%, as well as a rate of implementation of an aviation security supervision system estimated at 68.85%.
With regard to air transport, the Minister of Transport noted firstly that passenger traffic has grown steadily by 5% per year due to the intensification of the portfolio of state air agreements. Secondly, the implementation of the ICAO's airspace liberalization policy has been strengthened with Cameroon's accession to the Africa Single Air Transport Market in 2018.
With regard to environmental protection, the Minister was satisfied with the validation of the Action Plan for the Reduction of CO2 Emissions submitted by Cameroon in 2015 and its subsequent implementation which led to the installation of the solar photovoltaic units, fixed ground-level power units and modern pre-conditioning air units in 2018 at Douala International Airport.
Finally, with regard to the capacity building of Civil Aviation personnel, the Minister said that the Cameroon Civil Aviation Authority Training School was established as an AVSEC Regional Training Centre in October 2018 and has successfully passed evaluation for membership as an Associate Member.
The Minister of Transport took this opportunity to thank the states and organizations that support Cameroon in various forms in its efforts for the development of civil aviation.
