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ICAO-EU cooperate towards aviation’s safe, secure, and sustainable recovery

​ICAO Secretary General Juan Carlos Salazar (right) and European Commission Director General for Mobility and Transport, Henrik Hololei, on the occasion of a joint committee meeting at ICAO Headquarters on 10 March 2022.

The Committee adopted a new working arrangement aimed at supporting and promoting each other’s activities in the area of accident and incident reporting in civil aviation.

MONTREAL – Recovery of the European and global air transport sectors, and increased collaboration towards the provision of assistance to States in all regions in support of the new Policy on ICAO Implementation Support provided to States approved by the ICAO Council last week, were among key topics reviewed during the ICAO/EU Memorandum of Cooperation Joint Committee meeting held at ICAO Headquarters on 10 March 2022.

Co-chaired by ICAO Secretary General Juan Carlos Salazar and the European Commission Director General for Mobility and Transport, Henrik Hololei, the meeting was attended by the Permanent Representatives of EU Member States to ICAO, the Head of the EU office in Montréal  and other ICAO, EU, and European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) officials.

The Committee adopted a new working arrangement aimed at supporting and promoting each other’s activities in the area of accident and incident reporting in civil aviation. This specifically relates to the use of the European Co-ordination Centre for Accident and Incident Reporting Systems (ECCAIRS) tool for the implementation of Annex 13 – Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation reporting requirements by ICAO and Member States, along with other safety data requirements. The use of this common tool should greatly enhance the data connectivity needed to become more proactive in safety.

The European Union has provided significant expertise and resources to ICAO prior to, and during the pandemic, with its Member States notably offering important contributions to the ICAO Facilitation Panel’s task forces on health issues outbreaks in aviation and on passenger name records. The EU experts’ contributions to ICAO’s cybersecurity work was also highly appreciated.

Committee members further underscored the importance of promoting cooperation in areas including the implementation of the ICAO Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), the deployment and financing of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), and the delivery of international cooperation and assistance projects.

These discussions highlighted the envisioned adoption of a long-term aspirational goal (LTAG) in Environment for the international aviation sector at the 41st Session of the ICAO Assembly in September 2022, for which the upcoming LTAG Global Aviation Dialogues to be held from 28 March to 8 April 2022, and the ICAO High-level Meeting from 20 to 22 July 2022, will be particularly important in terms of building momentum.

ICAO and ILO to enhance cooperation on contributing to sustainable development and gender equality in aviation sector labour
Data collection and the promotion of the sustainable development benefits provided by aviation professions, particularly for women, are the focus of a new agreement signed by ICAO Council President Salvatore Sciacchitano and the International Labour Organization (ILO) Director-General Guy Ryder.

Under the new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), ICAO and the ILO will work to leverage off their complementary efforts and policy coherence within their respective mandates for global aviation and labour, with the ultimate objective being more effective support to States now seeking to achieve the UN Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Effective immediately, the MoU will assure improved ICAO/ILO progress on gender equality and sustainable development through a wide variety of joint activities, encompassing research, technical meetings, technical advisory services, training, and collaboration on the development of guidelines, tools and methodologies.

“ICAO’s conclusion of this agreement with the ILO responds to the ICAO Assembly’s Resolutions on the UN Agenda 2030 SDGs and gender equality, which call for new partnerships within the UN system in support of enhancing aviation’s contributions to sustainable development, and for the demonstration of strong, determined leadership and commitment towards advancing women’s rights,” remarked President Sciacchitano.

The ICAO Assembly is comprised of all 193 member States, and meets triennially. The 2019 ICAO Assembly Resolution A40-21, Aviation’s contribution towards the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, underscores how ICAO’s work to support States’ enhancements to the safety, security, sustainability and connectivity of the global air transport system directly contributes toward the achievement of the SDGs.

An earlier 2016 Assembly Resolution A39-30, on the ICAO Gender Equality Programme, had also stressed how ensuring equal opportunities for women within the aviation sector provides a crucial opportunity to drive broader progress towards gender equality.

“The agreement is very timely in view of the serious challenges the pandemic has caused for workers’ rights in the aviation sector,” said Director-General Ryder. “The ILO looks forward to working with our colleagues at ICAO to combat the effects of the pandemic, and to build a socially sustainable recovery and decent work in the sector.”

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Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.

She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.

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