The European Union (EU) and a group of eight South Asian states have celebrated the launch of a new project to enhance their ties in civil aviation. The four-year technical cooperation project, managed by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), is designed to enhance aviation safety, promote institutional and industrial links, and mitigate the environmental impact of aviation.

The project will be implemented with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It was officially launched at the Global Aviation Safety forum on Regional Safety Oversight Organizations in Swaziland.

The project will also promote technical cooperation at the regional level and enhance EU-South Asia policy dialogue. The €7.5m project is funded by the European Union.

The EU-South Asia Aviation Partnership Project (APP) aims to :

- enhance relations between South Asian and European institutions in the field of civil aviation,

- increase technical exchanges between the South Asian and European aviation industries,

- support South Asia in developing its capacity for safety oversight,

- improve the environmental performance of the South Asian aviation sector.

There are similar, but separate, partnership projects with China and with a group of 10 countries in Central Asia.