Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is to be highlighted as a model for airports in the Caribbean, Central America and South America at an airport infrastructure conference to be held in Atlanta April 10-12.
The conference is being hosted by CIFAL Atlanta, one of 12 United Nations Institute for Training and Research centers that are implementing the U.N.’s development goals for the urban areas worldwide.
Axel Leblois, CIFAL Atlanta’s executive director, told GlobalAtlanta last week that the conference is to be the first time a meeting of this sort brings together leaders from large urban areas throughout the Western Hemisphere from airports, economic development organizations and municipal service sectors.
“The Atlanta airport’s success is because of the vision of present and past mayors to push investment into it with the support of economic stakeholders,” he said referring to the city’s business community.
According to Mr. Leblois, the “by invitation only” conference titled “Leveraging Airports for Economic Development” is to provide a forum for sharing best practices. Officials form Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Bogota, Colombia; Monterrey, Mexico; Kingston, Jamaica and Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago are scheduled to attend.
He said that he anticipates no difficulty in attracting 35 officials given the airport’s international reputation, which was reinforced last year with an award from the Lyon, France-based Air Transport Research Society for being the most efficient facility in the world.
Atlanta was chosen as the CIFAL center for the Americas and the Caribbean last year. It is located in the Busbee Center for Global Economic Development and Innovation at Technology Square in Midtown.
CIFAL Atlanta is to focus on commercial diplomacy, information technology and public-private partnerships.
For more information, contact Mr. Leblois at (404) 214-9440.