Consuls General and Honorary Consuls from 22 countries joined Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, President of the ICAO Council (7th from the left), at the Organization’s Montréal Headquarters today. The President and a number of ICAO’s senior officials outlined the UN agency’s mission, role and current strategies for combatting climate change, while promoting the links between sustainable international socio-economic development and civil aviation connectivity.
MONTRÉAL, 3 May 2016 – Montréal-based Consuls General and Honorary Consuls representing 22 countries conducted an official visit to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) today.
The visit comes as ICAO prepares for its 39th Session of the Assembly, when the UN agency’s 191 Member States will be invited to agree on strategies to address key issues such as climate change, the agency’s budget, and the composition of the ICAO Council. They were addressed by President of the ICAO Council, Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, who set forth civil aviation’s key challenges and the Organization’s initiatives to address them.
“The global aviation network is projected to double in flight and passenger volumes by 2030, at which time we expect to operate 60 million flights and carry over 6 billion passengers annually. This means we must ensure sufficient infrastructure and skilled personnel to manage and process this growing traffic safely, securely and efficiently,” Dr. Aliu said. “The anticipated growth means that aviation will contribute even more to the global economy, but it must do so with due regard for emissions reduction and climate change mitigation. Important steps to control and limit aviation emissions are therefore on the agenda for our Assembly.”
The President highlighted that ICAO’s Global Plans for Safety and Air Navigation and the Organization’s Next Generation of Aviation Professionals programme, are helping to address aviation’s infrastructure and human resources challenges, while its environmental protection actions are seeking to cap carbon emissions from international civil aviation at 2020 levels.
“While aviation is already making important progress on carbon emissions through technology, better procedures, and capacity-building in States, the post COP/21 world is focussing on the market-based measure for aviation that we will propose at our 39th Assembly this September,” Dr. Aliu said. “In so doing, aviation would become the first major industry to make this type of commitment.”
The address was also an opportunity for ICAO to highlight its contributions to the development of Montréal as an aviation hub, and to express its gratitude to Canada as the agency’s host country.
“ICAO greatly values its position in Montréal,” Dr. Aliu said. “We are very proud that our presence here since 1945 has helped to attract other aviation organizations from around the world, establishing this city as the World Capital of Civil Aviation. And we very much appreciate the generosity and assistance of the Government of Canada, which has facilitated our work tremendously.”
Dr. Aliu concluded by inviting the Consuls to return to ICAO to participate in its upcoming High-level Meeting on a Global Market-Based Measure (MBM) Scheme, taking place 11-13 May 2016, and to the ICAO Assembly, taking place 27 September to 7 October 2016.
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The attending countries were Algeria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Egypt, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Mauritius, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia and Uruguay.
