Mali

1) What have been your achievements in CAA and aviation in your country in 2022 ?

The Civil Aviation Authority of Mali (CAA), known as the National Civil Aviation Agency or ANAC (in French), is a public administration entity (EPA).

Its mandate consists in contributing to the formulation of civil aviation regulations in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards and community provisions and monitoring their application so as to enforce safety and security measures, plan, coordinate and supervise all civil aviation related activities, supervise air navigation services, and develop, implement and monitor the State’s aviation training policy.

Some of the achievements at the Civil Aviation Authority in 2022 are the following:

• drafting of instruments for the implementation of the Civil Aviation Code to enhance national civil aviation regulations;
• amendment of Mali’s Aviation Regulations (RAM) for compliant and updated regulations;
• adoption of the regulation on Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation;
• revision of Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASAs) and submittal of draft Agreements through diplomatic channel to the concerned States (Chad, Sierra Leone and Angola) and also during ICAN with the signing of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Chad, etc., for compliance with the Yamoussoukro Decision.

In terms of achievements in the field of Aviation, the CAA undertook the enhancement of airport equipment and infrastructure with:

• the commencement of construction work on the headquarters of the Secondary Search and Rescue (SAR) Centre;
• the acquisition of advanced airport hub security equipment (dual-view X-ray machine);
• the commencement of work on the upgrading of domestic air terminals (in Gao and Timbuktu).

2) What are your challenges and how can AFCAC assist you?

The current challenges facing the CAA and requiring AFCAC’s assistance are.:

• Capacity building of safety and security personnel;
• Computerising of the safety supervision system;
• Certification of the international airports.

3) Your commitment to SAATM: how are you going to proceed with the implementation?

For SAATM to be more effective, we are working towards ensuring that all national legislation, regulations, rules and policies respect the express provisions of the Yamoussoukro Decision.

As such, Mali is undertaking the following actions:

• Review of BASAs signed by Mali with a view to making them compliant with the Yamoussoukro Decision by eliminating restrictions in the areas of traffic rights under the 3rd, 4th and 5th freedoms, frequency, tariff and capacity.
• To date, Mali has signed BASAs with twenty-nine (29) of the forty-four (44) signatory states of the Yamoussoukro Declaration and twenty-five (25) of the thirty-five (35) SAATM Member States.
• Celebrating YD day, as part of the concrete measures to be implemented in the framework of the SAATM.

4) What can you say about SAATM PIP?

The Single African Air Transport Market Pilot Implementation Project (SAATM PIP): A pilot project for the implementation of the Single African Air Transport Market was created by a group of 10 African States that have agreed to conduct a pilot test of the Single African Air Transport Market initiative to facilitate the launch of new routes across intra-African borders without recourse to alternative air services.

The initiative is expected to engender the following:

• reduced air fares;
• economic returns generation for African States; and
• doubling of Africa’s interconnectivity in the medium and long term, through the operationalization of new intra-African routes.

The SAATM PIP is a unique opportunity and an incentive for other States to implement the Yamoussoukro Decision (YD). Its impact will facilitate the identification of the challenges linked to the implementation of the SAATM with a view to introducing the necessary corrective measures.