NAIROBI, KENYA: Somaliland has sent an invitation to France to explore investment opportunities in the country’s aviation industry.
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Somaliland’s Managing director for Civil Aviation and Airports Authority Abdi Mohammed Rodol during a meeting with the French Commercial Attache Emmanuel Dragon at the France embassy in Nairobi said there are massive openings in aviation, which France can take advantage of.
“Ours is a young Nation seeking to welcome investors in different fields.
As the civil aviation director in Somaliland, I welcome investors from France to come and explore these opportunities,” Rodol said during the meeting that was also attended by the Somaliland representative to Kenya Bashe Omar.
Meanwhile, Kenya is mulling on introducing direct flights to Somaliland capital Hargeisa.
With the frosty relationship on between Kenya and Somalia, which has seen the former close its borders and bar flights to and from Mogadishu, Kenya Airways, is considering Hargeisa as its next destination in the Horn of Africa.
This will be a massive boost for trade between Kenya and the internationally unrecognized Somaliland.
Over 15,000 Kenyans are living and working in Somaliland in the hospitality and education sectors.
Somaliland Managing Director of Civil Aviation and Airports Authority Abdi Mohammed Rodol is in Nairobi ostensibly to hold discussions with authorities in Kenya on the suitability of Hargeisa as a destination for Kenya Airways.
So far, Ethiopia Airlines provides two flights that fly directly to Somaliland between Addis Ababa and Hargeisa.
Fly Dubai also has flights that fly between Dubai and Hargeisa bringing business people to Somaliland from all over the world.
With plans to open a consulate in Hargeisa still on, the Kenya Airways sees this as an opportunity to introduce flights to the country which parted ways with Somalia after the start of the 1990 civil war.
Last month, the Foreign Affairs ministry directed Mr. Philip Mundia Githiora to establish the mission in the Somaliland capital.
Ethiopia and Djibouti have already set up diplomatic missions in Somaliland.
