The African Business Aviation Association (AfBAA) announced the confirmed dates for the Association's next annual symposium.
The third in the series will be held over two days on 24 and 25 September 2015 in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa at the Sheraton Addis hotel. AfBAA selected the location owing to the significant part the city plays in the African political landscape as the home city of the African Union of Nations. This will be the first AfBAA symposium held in East Africa and it is anticipated the location will encourage a greater number of Business Aviation stakeholders from this part of the continent to attend the meeting.
The symposium will provide a platform to update topics initiated at the 2014 Symposium held in South Africa, in addition to introducing new themes that will be generated by varying AfBAA events through the year. These include the AfBAA Rendezvous in Luanda, Angola in February, AfBAA’s EBACE attendance at Europe’s largest Business Aviation convention to be held in May, and talking points generated by the ongoing African Business Aviation research being conducted by JetNetIQ.
The event is already receiving interest from a number of corporate sponsors, which recognise the momentum, and influence that has been gained from the AfBAA meetings. Industry experts have already been invited to speak and an announcement about the line up will be made at the EBACE event in May.
The Symposium will discuss all elements of Business Aviation in Africa but will have a special focus on the development of Business Aviation in the Central and Eastern African region recognising the specific challenges this area presents. It is expected that with the African Union’s headquarters based in Addis the meeting will attract a high number of government officials and regulatory bodies, in addition to business aircraft operators, OEMS, airports, law firms, trip planners, finance companies as well as all aviation professionals with an interest in the current and future development of the region.
“We have already seen how popular, and more importantly influential, these meetings are. Progress is actually made as a result of the annual conference, which is the whole reason for arranging these events. Since we held our first meeting in Morocco in September 2013, the OEM’s have improved their support networks across the continent, an in-depth research study collating valuable data for the sector has begun, and we have formulated a number of agreements with industry leaders to support elements identified as crucial to sector success e.g. financing, maintenance, and SMS. We’ve also noted member numbers increase after each symposium. Combined this demonstrates the value of these meetings and we will encourage even wider participation this year,” commented Tarek Ragheb, Chairman and Founder of AfBAA about the series of symposia.
“We are aware that each country and region has its own issues and we are dedicated to advocating on their behalf. By holding our third annual Symposium in Addis Ababa we hope to debate key themes that are particularly pertinent for this area and its future economic development,” added Rady Fahmy, Executive Director of AfBAA. “We are looking forward to welcoming a wider cross section of Africa’s delegates and anticipate they will value the networking opportunity.”
The event will be held over two days and will finish with a gala dinner for the final round of networking. For the first time AfBAA will also be arranging the opportunity for delegates to take in some of the host country’s spectacular sites with a third day of informal activities. Sponsorship opportunities will be available for those wishing to support the event.
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