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The Minister of Transport, Mike Hammah, has stated that the air transport industry in West Africa is faced several challenges, particularly from the industrialized economies. �The solution largely lies in our ability to unite and transform the industry into a dynamic force that would play a lead role in the economic development of the sub-region,� he added. Mr. Hammah said this in Accra when he opened the first meeting of Director-Generals of Civil Aviation Authorities, Airports, Air Navigation Service Providers and Airlines in West Africa. He said in order to achieve efficiency, it was necessary for Africa to move away from the situation where Civil Aviation Authorities regulated, managed and also provided air navigation services at the same time. Mr. Hammah revealed that the Ghana Airports Company Limited was carved out of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) to develop and maintain airports while the authority remained the regulator and provider of air navigation services, noting, �Government is prepared to further de-couple GCAA so that the air navigation service arm would become a separate entity�. The Transport minister said it was very necessary to liberalize air transportation in the sub-region by eliminating all non-physical barriers such as tariffs. Mr. Hammah explained that the Yamoussoukro decision, which sought to address the different levels of air transport development in countries in the sub-region, made provision for progressive liberalisation over a two-year period, beginning in July. He invited sister countries to patronise the Ghana Civil Aviation Training Academy, indicating that the development of human capacity was crucial to the aviation industry. Mr. Hammah mentioned that in spite of progress that had been made in air transport within the sub-region, the industry still faced some constraints, especially in the area of finance. �We can move forward patiently, if we gird our loins and get together as one people with a common destiny,� he added. The Director General of GCAA, Air Commodore Kwame Mamphey, expressed the hope that participants would bring to the fore some of the critical matters that need to be looked at within the industry, adding, �Our meeting would have to focus on the critical areas that would attract the attention of the various policy makers to address once and for all, the burning issues within the industry.�The meeting, which is the first of its kind, was held from 3 to 4 December 2009.