SA to host key aviation conference

SOUTH Africa will, for the second year running, host the 9th Aviation and Allied Business Leadership Conference and Industry Awards in Johannesburg this month. The conference will be officially opened on August 12 with a keynote address by South Africa's acting minister of Transport, Jeff Radebe, as well as Nigeria's newly appointed minister of Aviation, Alhaji Isa Yuguda. The event, to be held at the Sandton Convention Centre, will open for registration on August 11 and will run until August 13, with the theme: ‘Air Transport as Key to Africa's Economic Development’. Conference spokesperson, Edward Boyo, comments: "The conference will provide the forum for stakeholders in the air transport industry, both public and private sectors, to interact and exchange ideas in a collective search for success for air transportation on the one hand, and to propel the speedy development of Africa's economy for the well being of its people on the other." He says last year's conference aligned itself closely with the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad). It took a critical look at the air transport industry on the continent, its failures, challenges and opportunities. The outcome of this was the Johannesburg Plan of Action (JPA) on the accelerated implementation of the 1999 Yamoussoukro Decision, and the development of air transport infrastructure within the framework of Nepad. (Adéle Mackenzie)