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The Managing Director of the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), Mr Charles Asare, has called for greater collaboration among airports in the West African subregion to make them a formidable force within the aviation sector.

Subsequently, he pledged the commitment of the GACL to put its facilities at the disposal of its peers to help in beefing up their operations and services.

Mr Asare made the call when 20 fire officers of the Robert International Airport (RIA) in Liberia passed out from the Rescue and Fire Fighting Service Training Centre at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra.

Also present at the ceremony, which was witnessed by the Vice-President of Liberia, Mr Joseph Nyumah Boakai, was the Minister of Transport, Ms Dzifa Ativor.

The personnel, who included one woman, were taken through basic firefighting skills in Aircraft rescue and firefighting; fire protection and emergency management for both civil and military personnel and industrial fire safety.

Mr Asare said the GACL was equipped with first class facilities that made it possible to deal with emergencies and noted that the company would continue to ensure that what was required to enable the airport maintain its international status was done.

He congratulated the fire personnel on their dedication throughout the eight-week intensive course and noted, “we are always available should you require further training”.

Tapping regional knowledge
Mr Boakai stressed the need for West Africans to tap into the knowledge of one another at all times.

“We have the knowledge to do so many things and we must tap into one another’s knowledge in our request to build our human capacity”, he said.

The Liberian Vice President said Ghana had always distinguished itself in many areas of human endeavour and mentioned in particular the tenacity of its peacekeeping force, saying “the discipline they exhibit is not questionable and we are proud to have brought our personnel here to learn from a facility in Ghana”.

He said the government of Liberia would focus more on preventive measures to avoid fires and other disasters at the RIA, while ensuring that should any emergency arise, the country will depend on the fire personnel to deal with the challenge as per the skills they acquired in Ghana.

Mr Boakai asked the personnel to dedicate themselves to duty and also share the knowledge with their colleagues so they would also be on the alert against any emergencies.

According to him, making the airport safe was one of the ways to attract more airlines for business.