Meeting of the YD Monitoring Body, Nairobi, Kenya 28 – 30 October 2024
At the YD Monitoring Body members meeting taking place in Nairobi – Kenya from 28-30 October 2024, AFRAA Secretary General made an intervention on the progress of SAATM implementation and impediments needed to be addressed to ensure its effective realization.
Noting that the number of SAATM states is only 37, of which only some are fully compliant, Mr Berthé stated that there is some progress; however, the pace of implementation could be faster. He recommended benchmarking on the approach of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), which is gaining momentum, as an excellent example from which we can borrow some lessons. The Trade Agreement was launched after SAATM and successfully secured the commitment of 54 African States and more than 22 ratifications required to enforce the agreement. The Agreement entered into force on 30 May 2019 for the 24 countries that had deposited their instruments of ratification by this date.
With regards to the progress made on the Dispute Settlement Mechanism (DSM), Mr Berthé stated: “ The DSM is part of the legal framework of SAATM has been adopted and the DSM secretariat has been in place now for one year. The recruitment of the members of the Administrative Council is almost completed and the operationalisation of the SAATM DSM with the Administrative Council is a significant step.”
“However, we need to ensure that the Administrative Council’s decisions will be binding on the parties.” Mr Berthé emphasized.
He highlighted AFRAA’s essential role to play in the success of SAATM in its capacity as a member of the YD Monitoring Body. “We all agree on the long-term benefits of SAATM for African continent integration and the airline industry. Our role at AFRAA is to promote the SAATM. During this meeting, you will see what we are doing to support SAATM from the AFRAA presentation.” He said.
On centralization of governance and jurisdiction, Mr Berthé noted that the liberalisation in the United States and Europe was facilitated by the fact that both already had a common market, a centralised governance and a centralised jurisdiction. That has yet to happen in Africa. For SAATM, we still depend on the goodwill of states to implement it.
Mr Berthé concluded his intervention by urging stakeholders to continue addressing the main challenges which our industry is facing, including:
– Safety and security remain a priority.
– Adequate infrastructure to meet operators’ and customers’ expectations.
– Training of new generation aviation professionals.
– Reduced operations costs to make African airlines sustainable and air transport affordable to the African people.
– Decreasing taxes and charges on Air Transport business.
– Collaboration and cooperation.
The YD Monitoring Body meeting shall focus on the following areas from 28-30 October:
i. SAATM Progress and the Annex3-Regulations on Dispute Settlement mechanism
ii. Operationalization of the YD/SAATM DSM
iii. Presentations by Organisations to be involved in the DSM Courts of Justice/Regional Competition Authorities
iv. AFRAA initiatives on Operationalization of SAATM-Call for enhanced collaboration
v. Presentation by Partners supporting the Implementation of SAATM and the DSM
vi. Updates on the implementation of YD/SAAM Key Performance Indicators and the SAATM JPAP
vii. Presentation on status of implementation of the SAATM Joint Prioritized Action Plan (JPAP) 2024
viii. Presentation of the Aviation Training Strategy for Africa