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Mrs Cecilia Abena Dapaah, the Minister of Aviation, on Monday reiterated government’s commitment to partner the private sector to establish a national carrier that would restore the national pride.

She said the Government would do everything possible to establish the national airline which would also create jobs for the teeming unemployed youth.

The Minister said government had started initiatives to ensure the safety and security of the country’s airspace that would meet international standards and, therefore, make Ghana the hub of air transport in the West African Sub-region.

In view of this, the Government abolished the 17.5 per cent VAT on domestic air transport in this year’s budget intended to create a sustainable industry, she said.

The Aviation Minister said this when the President of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), Dr Olumuyiwa Bernard Aliu, led a delegation to pay a courtesy call on her ahead of the Second International Conference on Sustainable Air Transport in Africa.

The conference, slated for Tuesday, March 28, would bring together stakeholders in the industry to discuss and adopt strategies to develop the air transport sector in Africa.

Mrs Dapaah said the Government would continue to support air transport development by providing the necessary infrastructure and human resource towards that cause.

‘‘Experts will soon come in to validate all the initiatives government has undertaken so that passengers travel in safety and comfort.

‘‘We also like the peer to peer review so that it will put all of us on a narrow path to make sure we do the right thing,’’ she said.

Mrs Dapaah noted that without domestic air transport it would be difficult to strengthen the African integration and, therefore, called for measures to rejuvenate the 27 airlines that had collapsed on the continent.

She commended the President of ICAO for being the first African to occupy that position in the over 70 years history of the Organisation, and described him as a visionary leader who wanted the best for Africa and the rest of the world.