Mr Joseph Kofi Adda, the Minister of Aviation, says government’s quest to establish a national carrier is progressing steadily and is close to finalising the documentation processes with Ethiopia.

Aside, the documentation that involves a partnership agreement, steps had been taken to acquire aircraft from either Airbus Company or Boeing and then followed by registration processes.

Mr Adda said this on Tuesday when Madam Anne-Sophie AVE, the French Ambassador to Ghana paid a courtesy call on him in Accra to discuss issues of bilateral cooperation towards government strategic aim of making Ghana an aviation hub in West Africa.

Mr Adda noted that government was working relentlessly to ensure that the vision to make Ghana an aviation hub within West Africa and a preferred destination of choice for travellers becomes a reality in the near future.
He explained that the national carrier would focus on domestic and regional routes and gradually expand.

“Locally, some of the infrastructures like the Ho and Wa airports has been built and we will provide the necessary support to make it operational. So people from Ho, for instance, can fly straight to Kumasi to transact their business,” he said.

As part of the strategic measures, he said the Ghana Civil Aviation might be decoupled into Air Navigation Service and the Regulatory Service.

Madam AVE said French companies were ready to invest in Ghana to create jobs and support the government’s agenda of making Ghana an aviation hub.

She said France companies had the capacity to provide an array of services in the area of duty-free operation, navigation service, airport management and cargo handling services.

Madam AVE lauded the strong commitment of Ghana’s ambition to make French a second language and that it would not be difficult for people to study to be more diverse and enable them to harness opportunities.

She said France had made it a strategic programme to invest in training more teachers and provide resources to enhance teaching and learning of the language.

Already, she said Alliance Francaise had set up other centers and the School in Accra admits over 700 students a year.

Madam AVE noted that the Embassy had begun an hour special French conversation session for very important persons including politicians who might not be able to attend regular lessons due to their tight schedule