NIGERIA ON ICAO RESOLUTION AND AVIATION INSURANCE

UNCLAS ABUJA 002415 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAIR ASEC ATRN NI SUBJECT: NIGERIA ON ICAO RESOLUTION AND AVIATION INSURANCE REF: (A) STATE 162488 (B) STATE 163307 (C) STATE 159498 Sensitive but Unclassified, please protect accordingly. ¶1. On September 20 and 21, Econoff delivered Ref A and B demarches to Assistant Director M.K. Ibrahim of the International Organizations Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and separately to Chief Owodu, Technical Advisor to the Minister of Aviation. Ref C information was delivered September 17 to the Ministers of Aviation and Foreign Affairs. ¶2. Regarding the ICAO resolution (ref A),Ibrahim commented that the Secretariat's language was not controversial. He expected that the GON could fully support the resolution, although first the proposal would need to go through the appropriate channels. Ministry of Aviation's Chief Owodu indicated he would be supportive of an ICAO resolution condemning the attacks. Owodu said that he was leaving tomorrow (September 22) for the ICAO General Assembly and would review the draft language prior to leaving. ¶3. On the aviation insurance crisis (ref B),Chief Owodu did not believe that Nigeria would be immediately affected by the rise in insurance premiums. The international flights, except those within the sub-region, use aircraft owned by Nigeria Airways' joint venture partners. However, he noted, for the Lagos-New York flight, Nigeria Airways would need to sit down with South Africa Airways and work out how these costs might be shared. Owodu was grateful for the information and interested to learn about the options being considered in the United States. Owodu said this information would help inform the Ministry on how to approach this issue with Nigerian carriers. ¶4. In response to the information on changes to aviation insurance polices, Assistant Director Ibrahim said that he had anticipated something like this would happen. He worried that this crisis would be used as an excuse for the EU and U.S. to subsidize domestic carriers, complicating international discussions on competition policy and trade in services. Andrews