Germany and Singapore are continuing their cooperation to strengthen Afghan aviation security. Ambassador Michael Steiner, the German Government’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Ambassador Jacky Foo of the Republic of Singapore, signed an agreement to that effect in Berlin today.

The aim of the joint initiative launched in 2009 is to improve the security of civil aviation in Afghanistan: 20 employees of the Afghan Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation are to be trained in modern airport management. Germany and Singapore will each provide half of the 106,000 euro budget for the seminar, which will take place at the Singapore Aviation Academy.

In 2009, 40 employees of the Afghan Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation attended special courses on airport management.

These training measures are part of Germany’s wide-ranging engagement to improve aviation security in Afghanistan. The Federal Foreign Office will make available some 52.5 million euro for this end by 2012. This funding will be used to rehabilitate the airports in Mazar e Sharif and Tarin Kowt. The German Government is also using Federal Foreign Office funding to help set up a monitoring system to improve security for overflights in the upper airspace. Training Afghan staff is a crucial step to complement this work.