NAIROBI, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- The UN specialized agency on civil aviation on Thursday hailed the East Africa Community (EAC)'s aviation safety record.
Barry Kashambo, the regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) told an aviation forum in Nairobi that the high standards has been validated by the continued progress in the ICAO safety audits taken in the last four years.
"Four out of the five audited EAC states are among the 12 that are above 60 percent effective implementation score in the Eastern and Southern Africa," Kashambo said.
"This translates in 80 percent of the audited states being above the Abuja target of ensuring that Africa's aviation accident rate be in line with global average by end of 2015," he said during the occasion of the official opening of the fourth EAC Symposium on Aviation Safety.
The two-day symposium was organized by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) in collaboration with the Civil Aviation Safety Oversight Agency (CASSOA), the administrative agency of the East African Community (EAC) that focuses on safe and secure development of aviation in the region.
The regional aviation conference brought over 300 delegates from East Africa and across the world to review ways to improve aviation safety in the EAC.
Kashambo said ICAO shares the region's desire to build resilient state aviation oversight systems that will ensure protection of the lives of the traveling public.
He noted that the target of improved safety can only be achieved if the region fulfills certain prerequisites such as the availability of financial aid and human resources as well as harmonized regulatory frameworks.
