Mr Ellis Hugh Tamakloe (2nd left), a director of the Ministry of Aviation, addressing the media. Looking on is Mr Charles Hanson Adu (2nd right), Deputy Managing Director/Operations and Technical of the Ghana Airport, and Kwesi Taylor (right), Consultant, Air Expo Ghana. PICTURE: INNOCENT K. OWUSU.

Ghana to host aerospace, global aviation exhibition in Accra

Dennis Agyei Boateng Mar - 05 - 2017 , 09:22

Ghana is to host the first-ever Aerospace and Global Aviation Exhibition for Africa in Accra this year, from October 24 to 26, 2017. The largest exhibition to showcase business, commercial and defence aircraft would attract various stakeholders in the aviation industry in Africa to the country.

This was announced at a press briefing in Accra last Thursday.

Event

The event, to be hosted by the Ministry of Aviation, is being organised by 4M, the host of both France and Abu Dhabi Air Expo. The organisers have been involved in the domain of aviation human capital development over the years.

The General Manager of 4M Event, Mr Didier Mary, said even though earlier plans to organise the programme in 2014 and 2016 in the country did not materialise, adequate measures had been put in place this year for the successful hosting of the exhibition.

Assurance

In a speech read on her behalf, the Minister of Aviation, Mrs Cecilia Dapaah, assured the organisers of the commitment of the government to ensure that the event came off successfully this year.

"Ghana would live up to its name as one of the best destinations of investments in Africa and the aviation hub of the continent," she stated.

According to the minister, Ghana would use the programme as a major catalyst to boost its investment promotion drive to help grow the economy.

"The African Airshow will connect the world of aviation to the African market and also build the capacity of domestic airlines and human capital,” she added.

Training school

Mrs Dapaah hinted of plans to establish a pilot training school in Tamale, in the Northern Region to help expand the aviation industry.

She said it was high time Ghana learnt and shared information in the sector with the rest of Africa through such expos to open up the aviation sector for job creation.

Background

The African Air Expo will bring together about 200 stakeholders in the aviation industry from various African countries, including Nigeria, South Africa and Guinea, to promote their brands and also develop product awareness. The programme will be organised every two years.