Ghana will soon match Dubai’s aviation industry – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has noted that Ghana would be building similar infrastructure to match up with countries that have done better in the aviation industry like Dubai.

He stressed the important role of the aviation industry to the development of countries, evidenced in ‘the making of Dubai’.

“All of us have seen what Dubai has done. Essentially, the story of the country is that of an airport and an aviation connection, out of which has sprung a whole lot of things. It has now made Dubai one of the dominant economic sectors of the world,” he said.

The president made these remarks when the President of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), Dr Olumuyiwa Bernard Aliu paid a courtesy call on the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, at the Presidency, on the sidelines of the 2nd International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) meeting on Sustainable Development of Air Transport in Africa, being held in Accra.

President Nana Akufo-Addo expressed gratitude to ICAO for choosing Ghana as the host country for their conference.

The President noted that “on both the regional and continental scale, one of the biggest obstacles we have, to boosting our own intra or internal trade, is the absence of a good connection and a good infrastructure that connects our various countries. So it is a clear, obvious advantage we would gain if the African airspace was fully connected”.

”We are modest, but hopefully we can also put in an infrastructure that would allow us to get there. To provide this focus, I had the privilege, as President, to appoint a Minister who is a very experienced, hardworking, dynamic woman to provide that focal leadership. And everything that I am hearing so far is that my judgment was not wrong”, he said.

Dr Olumuyiwa Bernard Aliu made an appeal to President Akufo-Addo to lead the efforts within West Africa to develop the aviation industry.

According to him, time has come for West Africa, and, indeed, Africa to contribute effectively to, and take its pride of place in the global transport system.

“We want to see the whole West Africa region become a domestic market, where there is active movement of people. Everywhere, air transport has become very cheap and it can be so in Africa if we have the right structure,” he said.

Source: otecfmghana.com