Following in the footsteps of the WHO, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has now chosen Liege Airport as one of its three global logistics platforms to support its humanitarian missions to developing countries.
Airports in China and Dubai will join Liège and act as the three global humanitarian hubs used by the WFP. Located close to where medical equipment is manufactured, they will be linked to regional hubs based in Ethiopia, Ghana, Malaysia, Panama and South Africa, where a fleet of small aircraft will transport goods and personnel to priority countries.
A Boeing 757 chartered by the WFP has already taken off from the new global humanitarian response platform in Liège, carrying nearly 16 tonnes of medical cargo and personal protective equipment (masks and gloves) on behalf of UNICEF and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), bound for Burkina Faso and Ghana.
"Our global logistics support system is operational, and this delivery is the first of many that we will airlift around the world," said Amer Daoudi, WFP's COVID-19 Response Director.
