The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) bestowed Zambia with its president’s recognition certificate award in honour of the country’s strides towards transforming its aviation sector.

According to a statement issued by Ministry of Transport and Communications head of public relations, Maimbolwa Mulikelela minister Brian Mushimba told delegates at the ceremony in Montreal, Canada that the recognition was an honour to Zambia.

“This badge of honor bestowed on Zambia is tremendous as we aspire to be a hub for transport, communications and metrological services in Southern Africa by 2030. And to achieve this we have put in place the best in terms of aviation infrastructure, aviation systems and aviation processes,” Eng. Mushimba said.

He said coming from a background where the aviation standards, processes, systems, safety and security were a challenge, the ICAO president’s recognition certificate award was a clear demonstration that Zambia’s civil aviation was of international standards.

“As a country we are on the right trajectory and we have installed the latest model of automated radar systems and monitoring systems for our airspace,” he said.

The minister said CAA was put in place by Government to quickly respond to the gaps and to build a sustainable civil aviation of international standards.

Eng. Mushimba informed delates that the Zambian Government was in the process of establishing a national airline for easy accessibility of various businesses and tourism aimed at contributing to Zambia’s economic growth.

The award comes nearly 14 months after the European Union (EU) lifted its suspension of Zambian registered aircrafts from entering the European airspace.

In 2009, Zambia was one of the countries that was put on the list of aircrafts that did not meet international safety standards, and was therefore subjected to an operating ban within the European Union.
In 2016, a renowned audit conducted by EU removed Zambia from the list after seven years.

Subsequently, a new Aviation Act was put in place which saw the creation of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), an independent body responsible for regulating of the aviation sector.