Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, ICAO Council President, delivers the keynote address at the Singapore Airshow Aviation Leadership Summit.
MONTRÉAL, 18 February 2016 – ICAO Council President Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu conducted a mission to Singapore from 14-15 February. He was accompanied by ICAO’s Asia-Pacific (APAC) Regional Director, Mr. Arun Mishra.
President Aliu met with Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, and Mr. Khaw Boon Wan, Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Minister for Transport. He delivered the keynote address at the Singapore Airshow Aviation Leadership Summit and conducted a series of high-level meetings and dialogues on ICAO’s current work in support of an international aviation market-based measure (MBM) and the UN agency’s ongoing capacity-building for States under its ‘No Country left Behind’ initiative.
During his keynote address, President Aliu focused on ICAO’s aviation development and No Country Left behind priorities, including the need for major State commitments towards modernized air transport infrastructure, while stressing the need for near-term action on aviation emissions.
“The eyes of the world are now clearly focused on the air transport sector post COP/21, and we must respond by delivering concrete progress on reducing emissions,” he highlighted to his audience of government and corporate leaders, stressing with respect to local concerns that “with a number of Pacific Island States already experiencing dramatic revenue loss due to climate change, the especially urgent need for environmental action cannot be ignored.”
The ICAO President’s stay in Singapore began with a series of dialogues conducted separately with Ministers representing Pacific Island States and Transport Ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Topics discussed included ‘No Country left Behind’ and ICAO’s current goals and actions to help States effectively implement ICAO Standards and Policies – a fundamental requirement on the path to optimizing air transport connectivity and aviation’s socio-economic benefits.
Further talks focused on the progress of ICAO’s work and outreach in 2016 to gain State consensus around the international aviation MBM now being developed, a world first for any major industrial sector. In less than two weeks from today, the ICAO Council’s High-level MBM Group will be reviewing a draft proposal for the MBM design scheme. This will be followed by a series of regional outreach events – the ICAO Global Aviation Dialogues – leading to a High-level meeting in May, and then finally the 39th ICAO Assembly this September.
The President also met with Singaporean Minister of State, Ms. Josephine Teo ; Mr. Pang Kin Keong, Permanent Secretary of Singapore’s Ministry of Transport; Mr Shum Jin-Chyi Kevin, Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore; and other Singaporean senior officials.
President Aliu also conducted a series of bilateral discussions with Mr. Henry Puna, Prime Minister and Minister for Transport of the Cook Islands; Lord Tariq Ahmad, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State of the United Kingdom’s Department of Transport; Mr. Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, Attorney General and Minister of Finance of Fiji; Ms. Violeta Bulc, Commissioner for Transport, European Commission; Mr. Hadi Sirika, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Aviation; Mr. Hany Y. Eladawy and Ms Iyabo O. Sosina, respectively the President and Secretary General of the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC); and Ms. Ingrid Cherfils and Mr. Salvatore Sciacchitano, respectively President and Executive Secretary of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC). He also attended the opening ceremony of the Singapore Air Show.
Resources for editors:
ICAO’s Aviation Development and No Country Left Behind initiatives
The ICAO Global Aviation Safety Plan
The ICAO Global Air Navigation Plan
ICAO and the UN SDGs
Contact:
communications@icao.int
