Allow me first to express my gratitude for this kind invitation from the esteemed Al Safwa Aviation Association, and I would like to thank the honorable Ministers, the international and regional aviation organizations, industry partners, press and media representatives for being with us today.

The aviation industry is not the oldest industry; however it is the most developing, the fastest-growing. As aviation continues to expand globally, our understanding of safety must progress to match the degree of change occurring in the industry. We must have continuous initiatives in order to identify hazards, mitigate and manage risk, protect manpower, safeguard assets and create effective, economically feasible solutions to problems , thus prevent incidents and accidents.

Aviation is one of the most tightly regulated industries in the world. It has such an intense level of security and safety; this makes it the safest means of transportation in our world despite the mishaps that happens from time to time. Commercial air transport has become safer than any other form of transportation used by mankind.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation role is critical in ensuring safety. We keep raising the safety bar and we still have room for improvement and I am confident everyone here is ready and willing to join hands to achieve the highest safety levels.

We are learning a lot of lessons every day. We are keen on setting safety standards, issuing licenses and permits based on those standards, regulating airspace, and establishing the inspection programs necessary to ensure continued operational safety.

One big challenge for the airline industry, is the overcrowded aerospace over many regions of the world, thus we have to find immediate solutions through the use of modern technology and to cover the navigational routes by satellites to ensure the safety and security of air routes, especially in our African Continent. Moreover, the efforts made by the government in the field of civil - military cooperation to optimize the air routes and make the Egyptian airspace more attractive for international airlines and help reduce fuel consumption, shorten flight time and reduce emissions.

Aviation security as well is an urgent challenge, as the world’s airports have spent last year around 7 billion pounds on security screening devices only. However, we know well that it is much more costly not to secure aviation than to secure it. Therefore, we apply the highest international standards in securing cargo and passengers, and our vision for the future allows us to use modern techniques and three-dimensional detectors, what contributes to the enhancement of our security procedures.

Our vision for the future of aviation in Egypt stems from our confidence in the ability of Egypt and the Egyptians, especially those working in the field of civil aviation; they are the people responsible for a better and safer future for the industry, through a vision committed to international rules and standards.

Upgrading the human factor in all sectors of the Egyptian Civil Aviation is critical to insure the highest safety standards. This can be achieved through standardized and accurate selection processes, intensive training, giving opportunities for promising personnel to lead the civil aviation sector in the future.

one of the main strategies of the Egyptian ministry of civil aviation is the ultimate use of technology and digital systems which coinciding with the ICAO and IATA initiatives of operations and procedures’ automation, in addition to facilitating the travel process to reduce time and effort and increase effectiveness and raise the safety level.

At the end of my speech, I would like to express my sincere thanks to you for attending the conference with special thanks to the industry partners who have contributed to this conference, and I hope that this conference comes out with results and recommendations that foster the development of the aviation industry not only in Egypt but in the whole region.

It is a great honor and pleasure to welcome you to the "Aviation Safety & Sustainability" conference organized by Alsafwa Aviation Association under the auspices of H.E Capt. / Hossam Kamal, Minister of Civil Aviation of Egypt.

Well, it took me some deep thinking to determine what to say in my introductory speech. I finally decided to switch places with you, try to anticipate what you would expect to hear from me, and address it.

So, I started at the moment you received the conference invitation. I believe that when you read it, three questions must have popped into your minds.

- Who is Alsafwa Aviation Association and why it is organizing such conference?

- Why choosing Safety as the topic of the conference? And

- How will Aviation Safety be linked to Sustainability within the context of the conference?

ALSAFWA is an Egyptian Non-Governmental Organization, not-for-profit, established in 2002. Its membership has grown in number to approach 600 members with wide academic, technical, and field competencies that are forming an outstanding body of expertise in the aviation field in Egypt.

As such, ALSAFWA has developed to be a stakeholder in the aviation industry, managing to assume an active role for enhancing this industry in Egypt. We are doing this along 3 lines: a) increasing stakeholders’ awareness about issues and challenges facing the aviation industry, b) reaching balance between the regulatory bodies and operators and service providers, and c) encouraging the aviation companies in Egypt to include their social responsibilities high on their priorities.

By organizing this conference, ALSAFWA strongly believes that it is putting ideas into practice, and materializing its role in enhancing the aviation industry in Egypt.

Apart from the importance genuinely inherent within the concept of safety in aviation, two bases contributed into choosing Safety as the theme and topic of this conference. First, the research work in aviation industry, which projects that the volume of world air traffic will double over the next 15 years; and second, the fact that advancement in aviation technology has improved the performance of hardware in a way where the majority of today’s accidents has become more attributed to human or organizational factors rather than equipment. This, we think, places a considerable responsibility on the industry stakeholders to proactively address current and emergent safety issues and challenges, with the aim of insuring that the expected expansion in aviation activities is carefully managed and supported, through strategic regulatory and infrastructure development including safety management systems to face the future challenges and live up to the responsibilities of providing safe flying to peoples around the world.

We hope that by addressing these factors in the conference sessions, we contribute positively into facing the present and preparing for the future in securing safer aviation industry.

Finally, linking Safety and Sustainability; I think that this topic is too technical to be handled within my speech; therefore, I would rather leave it to my colleagues, who will definitely cover it over the conference sessions.

In the meantime, I’d like to tap, very quickly, on Sustainability as a business strategy. As we all know, aviation is one of the most sophisticated, and very high cost industry. Therefore, venturing into investing in such industry must be accompanied with all possible measures that guarantee sustainability and continuity of the product or the service at the highest possible levels of quality, so that the investment grows, otherwise it would be lost. In such context, the cost of quality provision of product or service should not be considered by operators and service providers as extra cost; on the contrary, it should be seen as a necessary investment that is required for maintaining sustainability of the business.

In the same language, moving beyond compliance becomes essential for securing sustainability of the business, particularly in aviation industry. A company, whether an airliner or a service provider, incorporating proper organizational structure, accountabilities, policies and procedures into its operations would certainly attract more clients into its business. Such company would unquestionably guarantee a strong sustainable business in the aviation market.

At the end, I would like to thank all the participants in this conference, Authorities, Airlines, Service providers, Manufacturers, Suppliers; and I would also like to extend my thanks to all the Speakers, Panelists, Sponsors, the press and of course the organizing team.

I wish you all a successful and rewarding conference.