Hiiraan Online
Wednesday August 22, 2018
Mogadishu (HOL) - Sources within the Mogadishu Airport have confirmed the arrival of the regional director of a Chinese state-owned aerospace and defence conglomerate on Wednesday.
Our source inside the airport has told Hiiraan Online that Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) International Africa Director Huang Hong You landed at Aden Adde International Airport early Wednesday morning at the request of the Somali government.
The purpose of the meeting is not yet known, but ostensibly they will talk about the aviation industry in Somalia.
With over 100 subsidiaries, 27 listed companies and half a million employees globally, AVIC is one of the leading aerospace and defence companies in the world. AVIC produces air transport for both civil and military use, aircraft systems and automobiles.
During the Hassan Sheikh Mohamud administration, AVIC and Somalia penned a deal whereby AVIC was to supply three MA60 airplanes that would go to Somali Airlines. The planes were supposed to be used to ferry passengers on domestic routes. However, the deal fell through and both the Somali Airlines CEO at the time, Mohamed Guled, and the former Minister of Civil Aviation and Transport, Abdullahi Elmoge Hersi, blamed one another for the deal falling apart.