African Union to launch Single African Air Transport Market in Jan-2018
African Union (AU) Commission announced (22-Jan-2018) plans to launch the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) at the African Union Summit on 28-Jan-2018. SAATM will be the first AU Agenda 2063 Flagship project. The AU Summit will also see the adoption of the regulatory text of the 1999 Yamoussoukro Decision, including competition and consumer protection regulations. African Union Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy Amani Abou-Zeid said: "The launch of the Single African Air Transport Market will spur more opportunities to promote trade, cross-border investments in the production and service industries, including tourism resulting in the creation of an additional 300,000 direct and two million indirect jobs contributing immensely to the integration and socio-economic growth of the continent". 23 out of 55 African countries are subscribed to SAATM and 44 have signed the Yamoussoukro Decision. [more - original PR] [more - original PR - II]