SINGAPORE, 10 February 2014 – The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the Government of the Republic of Singapore signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) yesterday, supporting their increased collaboration on leadership and management training for the civil aviation sector.
The agreement was formalized by Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, President of the ICAO Council, and Lui Tuck Yew, Minister for Transport of the Government of Singapore. Aliu was in Singapore to provide a keynote address at the Singapore Airshow Aviation Leadership Summit, where he recognized the significant contributions of Singapore and the Singapore Aviation Academy to the development of civil aviation around the world, particularly in the areas of training and international cooperation.
“This cooperative agreement will help ICAO and Singapore to bring an increased level of focus to global and regional civil aviation training needs over the near-term,” Aliu remarked, “both for improved learning and human capital development opportunities.”
“Singapore is a strong advocate of developing aviation leadership and human capital, which are key to addressing the challenges facing global aviation with its rapid growth,” added Yap Ong Heng, Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore. “Singapore’s partnership with ICAO in leadership and management training affirms our commitment to contribute in a meaningful way to advancing international civil aviation.”
ICAO-Singapore collaboration under the new MOU will be focused around the development and delivery of leadership and management training and professional programmes, joint conferences, seminars and courses, the sharing of speakers, moderators and instructors and the exchange of information in areas of mutual interest in the field of civil aviation.
Aliu also noted that air transport’s greatest challenges in the years ahead would virtually all derive from how States and operators manage the doubling of global capacity now being projected through 2030.
“Global aviation has always made its best progress on the basis of determined consensus and collaboration,” he stressed. “This new agreement with Singapore will help us prepare for the skilled personnel challenges that lay ahead and is an excellent example of these principles at work.”
Resources for editors:
Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) link: http://www.caas.gov.sg/caas/en/index.html
Singapore Aviation Academy (SAA) link: http://www.saa.com.sg/saa/en/index.html
Background notes:
This is the third training-related MOU Singapore has undertaken with ICAO, the first being the MOU on the Singapore-ICAO Developing Countries Training Programme (DCTP). This was concluded in 2001 and further extended and expanded over the years to provide training fellowships and scholarships to aviation personnel from developing countries. To date, over 620 training fellowships and 5 scholarships have been awarded by the Singapore Government for SAA courses under the DCTP.
The second MOU was signed in 2010 and established the ICAO-Singapore Aviation Security Leadership and Management Seminar. An executive programme on aviation safety targeted at Directors General of Civil Aviation is being developed; with the inaugural programme planned to take place in the latter half of 2014.
