ICAO’s Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu addressed the Sixty-Fifth Special Meeting of Directors General of Civil Aviation of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) in Bratislava on 31 August 2016. She highlighted Europe’s importance within international civil aviation with particular regard to its leadership and challenges in the areas of air navigation, safety, security and facilitation, air transport and the environment.
Dr. Liu underscored the pertinence of the cooperation between ICAO and its regional partners in the technical assistance field, the outcomes of the cooperation between ICAO’s EUR/NAT Regional Office and the Member States within its purview, and the key role that Global Aviation Development Partnerships play in this regard. Gratitude for the voluntary contributions and personnel seconded by European Member States was also expressed.
She also outlined the salient aspects of the upcoming ICAO 39th Session of the Assembly and the ICAO 2017 – 2019 work programmes. The global market-based measure (MBM) to mitigate carbon emissions from international civil aviation and the ICAO Business Plan and Regular Budget, together with its Key Priorities, were of particular note.
While in Slovakia, Dr. Liu also undertook a courtesy meeting with Mr. Arpad Ersek, Slovakia’s Minister of Transport, Construction and Regional Development of Slovakia Republic, at which air transport’s contributions to sustainable development were discussed, and she met Mr. Frank Brenner, Director General of EUROCONTROL, which offered the Secretary General an opportunity to discuss cooperation between the two organizations.
