Paris, 7 December 2020 – The European and North Atlantic Office (EUR/NAT) held the last EUR/NAT DGCA virtual meeting of the year covering ICAO COVID-19 Latest Updates on 7 December 2020, the International Civil Aviation Day. The Meeting was presented updates on Phase II CART HLCD, the 2nd Edition of TOGD, the EUR/NAT States' Status of the CART Implementation, the recently issued ICAO Manual on Testing and Cross-border Risk Management and the challenge Vaccine Distribution will impose on the aviation sector. The EUR/NAT Office also announced a strong and effective Action Plan for 2021 destined to support the work of States on financial sustainability of the CAAs in their oversight capacities.
With the participation of Mr. Luis Ribeiro, Director General of CAA Portugal and Chairman of the ICAO EUR/NAT DGCA meeting, Dr. Fang Liu, ICAO Secretary General, and Ms. Silvia Gehrer, Regional Director ICAO EUR/NAT, the meeting set the scene on the relevance and urgency to address the many difficulties States and Industry are still facing since the pandemic breakout early in the year. "Our concerns are not new," said Mr. Ribeiro, "ICAO and the EUR/NAT Office have done a great job in addressing the concerns from States outlined from the onset of the outbreak. There are still many issues unsolved but through the great collaboration we have with Silvia and her team, we will continue to strive for the aviation sector in the EUR/NAT regions".
ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu reiterated that the world still remains connected by aviation, and that it will continue to be, long after the pandemic is behind us. " How quickly we recover relies strongly on governments aligning their CART-driven responses to COVID-19, and on the effectiveness of intra-regional coordination at the DGCA level. ICAO has been proud to fulfil its important multilateral role during this challenging time, and we will continue to work hard to ensure a safe and harmonized COVID-19 recovery for global air transport", highlighted Dr. Liu in her opening remarks.
"Our world has changed. An imposed pandemic has affected everyone's life, work environment and every single instance of our lives. ICAO as an organization, and ourselves here at the EUR/NAT Office too, are going through a lot of changes: the way we organize our work and communicate, the way we liaise and support our States, stakeholders and staff, the way we approach virtual team work. The "change challenge" is not going away and will affect the way we deliver our assistance in 2021: our focus will be on virtual delivery and more frequent meetings for sure. We all need to be ready for it, and use this opportunity to strive and grow while going through it", said Ms Gehrer.
A total of ninety-five (95) participants from thirty-seven (37) States, six (6) international organisations (ACAO, EASA, EUROCONTROL, ECAC, IAC and IATA) and the European Commission, attended this DGCA virtual meeting. In follow-up, the next ICAO EUR/NAT DGCA meeting is planned to take place in January 2021 and the topic will cover the areas where the EUR/NAT Office will focus its support to the EUR/NAT States during 2021.
The DGCA virtual meeting presentations are available at:
https://bit.ly/3ot9t2B
