At a meeting with Prime Minister Madhav Nepal at his office in Singha Durbar, Ahmad Mukhtar Awan, Regional Director ICAO Asia Pacific Region, urged Prime Minister Nepal to allocate more resources and take concrete steps towards ensuring aviation safety and making it a reliable means of transport. [break]
Talking to media persons after the meeting, Awan said he discussed with the prime minister about safety of air transport and measures that Nepal needs to take to ensure aviation safety. “The immediate need now is to ensure well-coordinated relations between the industry and its regulator,” he said.
The prime minister´s meeting with Awan comes two days after an aircraft belonging to Tara Air crashed in Okhaldhunga shortly after taking off from Lamidanda Airport to Kathmandu. The air crash comes 113 days after an aircraft belonging to Agni Air crashed in Shikharpur of Makawanpur district.
Nepal is considered prone to air accidents given its past record of air accidents.
On the occasion, Awan also asked Prime Minister Nepal to give more oversight authority to Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) so that similar air accidents in future could be avoided.
On the occasion, Awan also urged the prime minister to work toward upgrading the country´s only international airport, Tribhuvan International Airport.
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