The International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) “Focus Africa” drive is gaining momentum, spurred on by the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) and the Airlines Association of Southern Africa (AASA) and as its newest partners.
Focus Africa will strengthen aviation’s contribution to Africa’s economic and social development and improve connectivity, safety and reliability for passengers and shippers. It will see private and public stakeholders deliver measurable progress in six critical areas: safety, infrastructure, connectivity, finance and distribution, sustainability and skills development.
“Focus Africa is all about establishing a coalition of partners committing to pool their resources and delivering a set of African air transport solutions that let the continent, its people and economies play a greater, more meaningful and representative role in the global economy. The combined contributions of AFCAC and AASA will be critical to Focus Africa’s success. Africa accounts for 18% of the global population but less than 3% of global GDP and just 2.1% of air passenger and cargo transport activity. With the right interventions those gaps will be closed, and Africa will benefit from the connectivity, jobs and growth that aviation enables,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and ATPCO have announced a partnership which will see ATPCO use IATA’s CO2 Connect data in its Routehappy API offering later this year.
Routehappy is an API that helps airlines and sales channels to convey expected “Amenities” of the onboard experience, including seat pitch and type, Wi-Fi, power, entertainment, and more, to consumers at the time of booking. ATPCO plans to create a new Amenity that will use IATA CO2 Connect data to help shoppers understand the carbon cost of various itinerary options.
The agreement was signed between Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General and Alex Zoghlin, President and CEO of ATPCO during IATA’s 79th Annual General Meeting.
“We know travelers want to understand their flight’s environmental impact in a consistent, transparent and trustworthy way. IATA CO2 Connect is the most accurate tool providing this information. ATPCO customers will be able to make travel decisions using carbon calculations benefitting from top quality,” said Walsh.

On May 23, 2023, Ambassador Dr. John Nkengasong, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Special Representative for Health Diplomacy, announced the approval of the $112 million (over 6 billion Birr) Country Operational Plan 2023 (COP23) through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program to support Ethiopia’s continued response to end HIV/AIDS in 2030. Ambassador Tracey Jacobson, Charge’ d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, attended the virtual event.
COP23 represents the culmination of the cooperation between PEPFAR and the Ministry of Health to plan and develop programming to support the needs of people living with HIV in Ethiopia. The approval of COP23 by Ambassador Dr. John Nkengasong ensures a continuation of the PEPFAR programming, conducted in Ethiopia in close partnership with the Ministry of Health, which will ensure Ethiopia is on track to achieve the goal of epidemic control by 2030.