Wide Range Of Topics Discussed, From Paris Climate Initiative To Projected Industry Growth

The Secretary General of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Dr. Fang Liu, took advantage of a recent mission to India to congratulate its civil aviation authorities for the excellent results of its recent ICAO Universal Security Audit, while broaching a range of issues ranging from the ongoing COP21 in Paris to the significant growth now projected for Indian air transport.

She was joined on her visit by ICAO’s Air Transport Bureau Director, Mr. Boubacar Djibo, and by ICAO’s Regional Office Director for the Asia Pacific, Mr. Arun Mishra.
 
During her meeting with the Minister of Civil Aviation of India, Mr. Shri Ashok Gajapathi Raju, who was accompanied by several senior officials from the Ministry and India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Secretary General Liu congratulated India on its recent ICAO security audit performance, as well as its progress on optimizing civil/military airspace cooperation.
 
With respect to India’s projected air transport growth in the years ahead, Secretary General Liu stressed the need for strong commitments in support of a number of civil aviation capacities relating to training and skilled personnel development, airport and air navigation infrastructure, and the implementation of Performance-based Navigation (PBN) procedures. She expressed her encouragement at India’s modernization planning during a visit to the Delhi Air Traffic Control (ATC) Centre, and also noted ICAO’s commitment, under the UN specialized agency’s ongoing No Country Left Behind Program, to assist India with reaching its essential aviation development objectives.
 
Meeting with India’s Secretary of the Environment, Mr. Ashok Lavasa, Secretary General Liu was grateful to learn of India’s willingness to join global efforts to reduce GHG emissions and of its optimism about a successful outcome in the ongoing negotiations at Paris. She also suggested that India could play a proactive role through the ICAO Council to help its States reach consensus on an MBM for international aviation in advance of the next ICAO Assembly in 2016.
 
Secretary General Liu was in Delhi to help open the Airports Council International’s (ACI’s ) first conference on Investing in Airports – Economic Oversight and Regulation, for which ICAO had provided support. There she stressed the need for transparent and unobtrusive regulatory regimes which encourage cooperative public-private approaches to airport development. She welcomed the views of event participants regarding economic oversight and regulation, the international regulatory experience from the perspective of public and privatized airports, and the ongoing challenge faced by many States with respect to financing aeronautical infrastructure.

(Image provided with ICAO news release. ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu (left), with the Minister of Civil Aviation of India, Mr. Shri Ashok Gajapathi Raju (center), and India’s Secretary of Civil Aviation, Mr. Shri Rajiv Nayan Choubey (right))

FMI: www.icao.int