Advocating for aviation safety, security, sustainability, and resilience

Advocating for aviation safety, security, sustainability, and resilience

?ICAO Secretary General Juan Carlos Salazar (pictured left) recently concluded a high-level mission to Geneva, where he conducted a series of bilateral meetings and activities in support of the organization’s safety and security priorities and air transport’s sustainability and resilience objectives.

These meetings included bilateral discussions with the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus; the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development ( UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) ), Rebeca Grynspan; the Deputy Secretary-General of the Imternational Telecommunication Union (ITU), Tomas Lamanauskas; and the senior management team of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) , including its Director General, Willie Walsh (pictured right).

In the course of the Secretary General’s mission, he also addressed a “Town Hall” meeting in IATA, where he provided the association’s staff members with a comprehensive update on ICAO’s work and achievements. The meeting was also the occasion for the conclusion of a new agreement by Messrs. Salazar and Walsh to extend the ICAO/IATA licence agreement in respect of the Technical Instructions For The Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air (as depicted).

At IATA, Mr. Salazar highlighted the crucial importance of cooperation between the two organizations and efforts to address gaps in sustainability and safety, and noted that ICAO is taking its 80th anniversary as an opportunity to review our work and mandate in order to better serve our Member States and stakeholders.

While Mr. Salazar’s discussions with IATA senior management focussed on developments in international air law, sustainability, data protection and governance, and modern airline retailing standards, his meetings with his United Nations counterparts explored heightening cooperation towards both UN-system wide objectives and their specific objectives as specialized agencies. Additionally, the Secretary General’s WHO meeting encompassed priorities related to the current WHO Pandemic Treaty negotiations, while his discussions at ITU addressed common areas of interest in the fields of radionavigation-satellite service, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity.

A major priority was the identification of means to heighten the sustainability of air transport, especially in the context of the progress achieved at COP 28, as was assuring the resilience of air navigation and passenger facilitation services in the context of aviation’s recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The UN leaders also exchanged views on the transformation and sustainability of their own organizations in this context.

Mr. Salazar’s three-day mission to Switzerland concluded at Genève Aéroport on 17 January 2024, where he was received by its Director General, André Schneider.

The Secretary General was accompanied throughout his activities by the Directors of ICAO’s Capacity Development and Implementation Bureau, Mr. Jorge Vargas and Legal and External Affairs Bureau, Mr. Michael Gill.

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Neil Wolf

Law Offices of Neil G. Wolf (solo practice); candidate for LL.M. degree, Air and Space Law, McGill Univ. IASL, Montreal; concurrently, Exec. Master's in International Relations, Syracuse Maxwell/CSIS in D.C.

10 个月

These efforts by the Secretary General to improve the coordination and integration of the programmatic initiatives and activities of the organizations in Geneva represent a major step forward for the Office of ICAO SecGen. For the ambitions of the Transformational Objective to be realized, as a matter of process, the Office must expand its profile and fulfill a more prominent and leading role with and among all the pertinent and related international organizations. And as a matter of substantive topics and initiatives, as the article describes SecGen Salazar interacted with other organizational leaders on a wide range of critically important subject matters. These subject areas, singly and collectively, also hold great relevance for the accomplishment of the Transformational Objective. Thus, the article reports very welcome news, indeed!

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Impressive collaboration efforts!

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Paul J. Prisaznuk

Aviation, Automotive, and Maritime Engineering Professional. Tech Chair ICNS 2025, a joint activity of AIAA and IEEE

10 个月

ICAO and IATA collaboration benefits all airspace users including new entrants.

Siphesihle M.

Multi-Faceted Aviator/Guest Speaker

10 个月

The continuation of a safety focus in aviation will surely be a significant pillar for air transport's resilience. Not just a box ticking to meet regulatory minimum requirements but active, creative and process orientated habits within organisations to bring about the most safe outcome. Safety focus in aviation = Long term business success

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