CAAB takes stock of itself
Kagiso Onkatswitse | Wednesday February 22, 2017 18:00
CAAB chief executive officer, Geoffrey Moshabesha said the main focus of the forum was to allow stakeholders to draw on diverse and broad ranges of experience to find lasting solutions and growth opportunities for the Authority.
“We are strongly interested to hear the participants’ insights and intervention strategies that they aspire to adopt for the growth of the aviation sector in this country,” he said.
He also pointed out that aviation has a critical stake in Botswana’s socio-economic sphere, adding that the ultimate goal of the meeting was also to learn more about the government’s priorities so that CAAB can align its initiatives and resources to that effect.
Moshabesha urged the participants to work as a unit so that they can come up with a common solution, which can surpass the current unfavourable economic environment.
“With this, our aviation can then provide the rest of the aviation industry with the support needed to expand our opportunities,” he said.
According to the CEO, aviation contributes significantly to the promotion of trade and investment.
He said it is therefore appropriate that the government inoculated funds towards the development of aeronautics infrastructure.
For his part, CAAB chairperson, Mark Sampson urged the patrons to always meet face to face as the government, the industry and the broader community to discuss and resolve challenges facing the industry, with the aim to grow and render it more responsive to emerging trends.
He stated that the main objective of the forum is to seek inputs from stakeholders on priority areas that they consider important as CAAB commences the implementation of the National Development Plan 11 in April this year in as far as the aviation sector is concerned.
Sampsom said their aim was to identify specific areas of focus and intervention leading to the year 2020, which is the end of CAAB’s current strategic plan.
Chief corporate planning officer, Lebone Sedingwe stated that from NDP10 to NDP11, the CAAB strategy has not been changed, especially in safety and security matters.
“Our strategy was more connected with the implementation of NDP10 that was our departure point.
We have achieved so much in security, but we still have to do more to improve on that. That is an area we cannot compromise on,” Sedingwe said.