Air space deal signed between Rwanda, Brazil to boost connectivity

The Rwandan government has signed a Bilateral Air Service Agreement with Brazil to boost connectivity between two countries. The commercial flight operations of RwandAir will be enhanced in the Latin America skies as the outcome of this agreement.

The agreement has been signed between the Minister of Infrastructure, Claver Gatete and the Brazilian ambassador to Rwanda, Fernando Estellita Lins de Salvo Coimbra. It is said to come against the backdrop of the MoU signed between both countries in December 2017 in Sri Lanka. The recently signed MoU is likely to facilitate the private sector of both Germany and Rwanda to explore and tap into the economic potentials of two countries.

The newly signed deal between Brazil and Rwanda will boost aviation expertise and conduct training between both the nations' aviation sectors. The East African country is currently having 91 Bilateral Air Service Agreements with the nations within the African continent and outside too.

"The signing of the Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASA) with Federal Republic of Brazil and opening of more routes by RwandAir will continue to provide Rwanda's private sector with enormous opportunities in an economically vibrant and large market of more than 210 million people. There is so much we can do together with Brazil in the area of air transport. We are moving very fast because transport is one of the critical sectors for us as Rwanda," the 57-year old Rwandan politician, Claver Gatete said, as reported by The New Times.

The Brazilian ambassador to Rwanda, Fernando Estellita Lins de Salvo Coimbra extolled Rwanda's severe developing agenda across all the sectors that attract Brazil to come closer to this East African country through airlines, flow of goods and people. This new association will exchange both the countries' cultures, people, food habits and promote business. He also shared Brazil's potential in the aviation sector saying his country is one of the largest manufacturers of aircraft and has good expertise and advanced technologies.

"We not only have technologies, but we also have a large sector of civil aviation. We currently have over 450 aircraft in regular aviation and another 770 aircraft on non-scheduled transportation flying in the country. We have more than 100 public airports, 44 of which operate international flights in addition to 3500 private aerodromes in Brazil," the envoy said. "So it's quite a significant sector. Last year, I believe we had the passengers transported in the country reach 117 million. We are very happy that through this agreement we are now in a position to define and focus on specific areas where we can corporate," he added.

Also Read: Rwanda signs MoU with Germany on job creation: Official