Sierra Leone’s Minister of Transport and Aviation, Fanday Turay met with the Egyptian Minister of Civil Aviation. Mohamed Abass Halma on Monday, 6 November 2023, to discuss means of bilateral cooperation in the civil aviation fields in the New Administrative Capital, Egypt.

The two discussed a number of issues of mutual concern in relation to the transport industry.

During the dialogue, the two ministers resolved to amend and activate a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between Sierra Leone’s Civil Aviation Authority and Egypt’s Civil Aviation in 2015.

In a well-attended meeting, the Egyptian Minister of Civil Aviation gave direct instructions to the head of the Civil Aviation Captain Amr El Sharkawy to do everything possible to strengthen this relationship. He assured his counterpart of his full commitment to boosting this relationship.

The Sierra Leonean Minister hailed the remarkable achievements made by the Egyptian Aviation Sector in increasing their level of flights across Africa, Europe, and recently the United States of America (USA). He also praised the support given to Sierra Leone and called for continued bilateral cooperators to improve the conditions in the Sierra Leone’s Civil Aviation.

The meeting resolved on the following: that the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation provide a draft Memorandum of Understanding on Technical Cooperation
between the Ministry of Civil Aviation of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Sierra Leone for discussion and signature. Drawing up an Activity Plan for the implementation of selected activities in line with the areas of cooperation as outlined in the MOU.

For his part, the Egyptian Minister of Civil made a commitment to providing assistance to the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation in the areas of training of Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Personnel, Aviation Security, Sending of Experts from the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority to assist the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority in selected fields of operation, restructuring of the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority, development of the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Master Plan, support towards the effective implementation of ICAO, Air Navigation Safety oversight and Implementation of
Quality Management System.

The meeting also agreed on the Technical Team form the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority to meet with the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority in order to identify areas of cooperation and provide training needs for the consideration of the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The meeting will also hold initial discussions on the operations of cargo flights to Sierra Leone and on a partnership to have a carrier flying the Sierra Leonean flag. Finally, the meeting will discuss the prospects for the commencement of fight operations