The third Meeting of the JPO Steering Committee, 5th of December 2017, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
On the 5th of December 2017 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the 3rd Meeting of the Steering Committee gathered 23 participants from AUC DIE, EUDEL AUC, EC, AFCAC, ICAO, ACAC, ASECNA and regional economic communities among which ECCAS, EAC, IGAD, ECOWAS, COMESA.
This 3rd Meeting was co-chaired by EU Delegation to the AU, Mr. Francisco Carreras Sequeros, Head of Cooperation and Mr Cheikh Ould Bedda, Director of Infrastructure and Energy of the African Union Commission.
This intensive one-day but fruitful working session enabled SC Members to address the various aspects of the work programme and to make the necessary recommendations to fast-track the implementation of the Action, this as per their main mandate to oversee and validate the overall strategic direction and policy of The Action “Support to the Joint Programme Office (JPO)”
The DIE called for the SC to give new impulse to the Action while accelerating the implementation of the Recommendations of the AU Specialized Technical Committee on Transport, Transcontinental and Interregional Infrastructure, Energy and Tourism (STC-TTIET) in Lomé, among which focusing efforts on the conduct of the continental CBA study and strategy, for which a Task Team is being setup by AFCAC.
While commending the significant progress achieved by the Action and the contribution delivered by the JPO towards implementation of its programme, the DIE called for the Meeting to focus on the implementation of the recommendation n°7 of the STC-TTIET Declaration of Lomé, which will be supported through the creation of an AUC Working Group under the Sub-Committee on Transport to oversee, among others the issue of the institutionalisation of the JPO.
The 3rd Meeting was also an opportunity for all RECs to exchange and share their experience regarding advancement of the Action at their respective Modules level while discussing initiatives such as ASECNA’s Phase-B studies.
The Next Meeting of the SC is scheduled in May 2018 in Brussels
Background
The Pan-African (PanAf) Programme constitutes one the main financial instruments of the European Union (EU) for the implementation of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES). Funded from the general budget of the EU, it is the first ever EU programme in development and cooperation that covers Africa as a whole. Aligned with the Roadmap 2014-17 adopted at the 4th Africa-EU Summit held in Brussels in April 2014, the first phase of the PanAf was launched in July 2014 to fund projects for the period 2014-17. The Annual Action Programme 2015 of this PanAf includes the EGNOS in Africa Support Programme, whose Action, referred to as “Support to the Joint Programme Office (JPO)”, is co-funded by the European Commission and ASECNA.
The overall objective of the Action “Support to the JPO” is to contribute to the improvement of aviation safety in Africa, taking also into consideration non-aviation applications of satellite navigation, thus contributing to economic and social development in Africa. The specific objective of the Action is to accelerate the adoption and development in Africa of satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) based on the European EGNOS programme, primarily for the benefit of the civil aviation sector in order to improve safety and flight efficiency at acceptable costs.
Steering Committee
Tasked with providing the Action with overall policy and strategic direction, the Steering Committee (SC) is co-chaired by the European Commission and the African Union Commission, with the JPO acting as Secretariat. The SC includes representatives of the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC); The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO); Regional Economic Communities (RECs): EAC, COMESA, IGAD, ECOWAS, ECCAS, UEMOA and SADC;The Arab Civil Aviation Commission (ACAC);ASECNA; The European GNSS Agency (GSA).
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