The Air Spaces Management Cluster under the Northern Corridor Integration Projects (NCIPs) currently coordinated and chaired by Rwanda is convened this week at the Hotel Mille Collines in Kigali, Rwanda. The Cluster brings together the organizations and institutions responsible for civil aviation and airlines from the Partner States, coordinated by the National Coordinators of the Partner States, including the Air Spaces Management Cluster.
The purpose of the meeting was to obtain updates on the status of implementation of the Summit Directives of the 14th Summit on Air Spaces Management, progress made and challenges to be resolved and recommended for adoption by the 15th Heads of State Summit of NCIPs, due to take place in October 2024 in Kigali.
NCIPs Partner States are represented at the meeting by Technical and Senior Officials responsible for Air Spaces Management, including Civil Aviation Authorities and the coordinating entities. The Uganda delegation led by Dr. Fred K. Bamwesigye, Director-General of Uganda Civil Aviation Authority, Amb. Richard Kabonero, Coordinator of the Northern Corridor Implementation Projects, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Marion Tibenderana, Manager Aeronautical Information(CAA), Eng. Joseph Katongole, Senior Technical Officer CAA.
Speaking from Kigali, Director-General of Uganda CAA Dr. Bamwesigye stressed the importance of harmonization of costs and regulations in a manner that indicates rationality, “ we are confident that the meeting will lead to the revival of activities of Air Spaces Management in NCIPs and monitoring of progress on implementation of Summit Directives on Air Spaces Management to be fast tracked,” he said. Dr. Bamwesigye also expressed concern about the capacity of some partner states to undertake accident and incident investigations in airports across the region as per ICAO standards. He stressed the need for cooperation among NCIP partner states including support for existing initiatives to upgrade accident investigation units.
Recalling the directive of the Heads of State in the 14th Summit to reduce the cost of aviation in the region, the Head of the Northern Corridor Integration Projects at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Richard Kabonero said that the Air Spaces Management Cluster was expected to come up with recommendations towards fulfilling these expectations during the planned 15th Summit of Heads of State of NCIPs in October 2024. “The participation of all the technical experts will enable us to share the status update from each Partner State and fast track the required progress on Air Spaces Management for the benefit of population and region,” said Kabonero.
Among the documents under review is the MoU on Sharing and Fusion of Air Traffic Control Surveillance data, Operationalization of the MoU on Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation, consideration of a roadmap for establishment and operationalization of distributed aeronautical database system for Northern Corridor Airspace among NCIP partner States.