…expected to strengthen cooperation between the two countries

BOTH Guyana and Ghana were urged to put words into action with the inking of a historic bilateral air service agreement which will promote air transport connectivity and collaboration in numerous areas such as oil and gas.

Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure with responsibility for Aviation, Annette Ferguson, signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Minister of Aviation of Ghana Joseph Kofi Adda on Friday.

The two, along with some 600 participants, were at the time meeting at the Arthur Chung Int’l Conference Centre at Liliendaal,Greater Georgetown, for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Air Transport meeting in Guyana
Minister Adda in brief remarks thanked Guyana for its willingness to collaborate and noted the timeliness of the agreement for his country of some four million people.

“With this [signing] the timing is so right for me, personally, and my Government and the people of Ghana because, as I indicated two days ago, we had a national flight carrier which has [operated] in Ghana for many of years which has now gone down. We’ve just formed another one and we’re hoping that the reality, the true meaning of what we have signed today, would be one where aircraft of airlines start coming to Georgetown, Guyana and to other cities of the Caribbean and South America,” Adda said.

Apart from reducing travel hours, he stated that agreement would result in economic and social benefits; stronger cultural ties and possibilities for cooperation among citizens and politicians.

On the sidelines the conference,the minister continued, stating that when airline operations begin it will also create employment for citizens of both countries and can see the sharing of expertise and lessons in the area of oil and gas.

“We are ahead in some specific areas and Guyana has just discovered oil [and they’re working now to manage it]. We discovered oil when I was Energy Minister in 2007; we’re talking about 11 years, so we’ve developed some experience in that as well,” he said.
As the conference wrapped up its final day yesterday, he added: “It was excellent, nearly perfect. I’ve seen commitment in terms of what really we need to do to improve air connectivity within the two main collaborators which are Africa and the Caribbean area. It has been an excellent conference, well organised.”

Meanwhile, Minister Ferguson told the gathering that the historic moment is the first step along the journey of “putting words into action” for greater cooperation among the regions.
In further comments on the sidelines, she said that the current expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport’s runway from 7500 to 10,500 feet will allow for larger aircraft to land in the country.

“My vision is to see Guyana attracting a whole lot of people because remember, we have vast potential here with the oil industry coming on stream… I know that in another two to three years you will see a large influx of persons,” she said.

“[With the airport’s expansion] rather than having an aircraft coming with less than 100 people, we can get an aircraft bringing at least 300 people at one time; and this is will not only benefit the aviation industry, but tourism [also].”

However, before such possibilities come into play, Minister Ferguson reminded that there are some conditionalities that must be met , which would include engagements between the civil aviation authorities of the two countries.

Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge had earlier on commented: “We are in the process of addressing issues such as the quality of infrastructure for example. We are also looking at improving institutional arrangements governing the sector. The bilateral agreement with Ghana is a step in meeting the call for more bilateral agreements, notwithstanding the 20 existing air services agreements.”

Just on Thursday, Guyana inked an air-link agreement with Aruba, which also paves the way for connectivity between the two countries and adds to Guyana’s push towards an improved open-skies policy.