The ninth Aviation Security and Facilitation (AVSEC/FAL) Seminar for the Eastern European, Central Asian, Balkan and Baltic area of the European Region and the Landside Security Workshop were conducted from 10 to 11 July and 12 to 14 July 2023, hosted by Azerbaijan in Baku. These two events were attended by 35 participants from 12 States. This year, the invitation was extended to the Maghreb States in the ICAO EUR/NAT area of accreditation and members of ICAO Cooperative Aviation Security Programme – Middle East (CASP-MID).
Mr. Nazim Ziyadov, Deputy Director of the State Civil Aviation Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan was present for the opening ceremony and welcomed the participants, emphasizing the importance of the development of National Air Transport Facilitation Programmes (NATFP) and establishment of coordinating mechanisms such as the National Air Transport Facilitation Committees (NATFC) and Airport Facilitation committees.
During the AVSEC/FAL Seminar, ICAO provided information on its mandate and work in the Facilitation domain, covering an overview of Annex 9 and Facilitation-related articles of the Chicago Convention. Special focus was given to the standards that require States to develop NATFP and establish NATFC and Airport level committees, as well as relevant ICAO guidance material. The ICAO Electronic Filing of Differences (EFOD) System objectives, benefits and operational principles were also explained. In addition, Albania, Czechia, Kazakhstan and North Macedonia shared their experience and best practices in implementing Annex 9 SARPs.
Over the next three days, ICAO delivered a Landside Security Workshop developed in the scope of the CASP-MID Programme. The Workshop comprised various aspects of Landside security measures, including the identification of Landside areas, physical security, coordination among relevant national entities, risk assessment, as well as practical classroom exercises to name a few. Azerbaijan shared several presentations on the implementation of Landside security measures, which included behavior detection and security culture.
The State Civil Aviation Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan organized a visit to a Baku Heydar Aliyev International Airport, providing the participants with an opportunity to observe the implementation of Landside Security measures.
More information on FAL is available on the ICAO FAL public website : https://www.icao.int/security/fal/Pages/default.aspx
Regional and global Security Culture websites:
https://www.icao.int/Security/Security-Culture/Pages/default.aspx and https://www.icao.int/EURNAT/Pages/EURNAT-Security-Culture-website.aspx
