THE Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) attended the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Air Services Negotiation (ICAN) event, hosted by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority in Nairobi, Kenya from December 10 -14, 2018.

The annual ICAN event provides a forum for ICAO Member States to conduct multiple bilateral and plurilateral air services negotiations, consultations and networking opportunities, the GCAA said in a release. Delegates from 71 ICAO contracting States participated at ICAN in December 2018.

The Guyanese delegation, which comprised the Director General of the GCAA, Lt. Col. (Ret’d) Egbert Field, and Director for Air Transport Management, Mr. Saheed Sulaman, conducted 26 meetings at ICAN. These negotiations will set the framework for expansion in the air connectivity of Guyana with the rest of the world, and aid Guyana’s efforts in becoming a robust international air traffic hub.

These meetings resulted in the conclusion of sixteen Air Services Agreements (ASA’s) with Luxembourg, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burkina Faso, United Kingdom, Mozambique, Sri Lanka, Cameroon, Oman, Malaysia, Jordan, Zimbabwe, Colombia, Morocco, Gambia, Rwanda, and Tanzania.

These agreements were initialed and Memoranda of Understanding were signed with these countries. Pending signature of these agreements at the ministerial level, the agreements are provisionally applied, which means airlines from other countries can commence flights to Guyana at any time provided that the airlines are operating by the conditions outlined in the ASA.

Additionally, Guyana also signed a Code Sharing Agreement with Australia and a Technical Cooperation Agreement with Ghana for the exchange of knowledge and technical expertise in the area of civil aviation. Negotiations for ASA have commenced with Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, The Bahamas, Senegal, and Saudi Arabia.

The negotiations of these agreements are complementary to the work started at the ICAO Air Transport Meeting, which was held in Guyana from November 21-23, 2018 under the theme “Promoting Connectivity for Sustainable Air Transport Development”.