Montréal and Bangkok, 7 April 2022 – At a bilateral meeting that took place in Bangkok this week with H.E. General Prayut Chan-o-cha, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, ICAO Secretary General Juan Carlos Salazar congratulated the host State of ICAO’s Asia and Pacific Regional Office on its exemplary commitment to advancing a sustainable and resilient recovery of its aviation and tourism sectors in line with related ICAO guidance.
The meeting between the leaders was attended by Mr. Saksayam Chidchob, Minister of Transport of Thailand; the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mr. Chayatan Phromsorn; and the Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT), Mr. Suttipong Kongpool.
The Secretary General appreciated Thailand’s significant contributions towards all of ICAO’s safety, security, and sustainability objectives for global aviation, highlighting its work to continuously enhance its oversight capacities in accordance with the relevant ICAO standards and recommended practices.
Thailand’s implementation of the recommendations of the ICAO Council Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART) were seen as particularly important to its current successes, especially given the high importance of international and domestic air tourism to its overall economic prosperity.
Expressing his gratitude for Thailand’s long-standing accommodation of ICAO’s Asia and Pacific Regional Office, Mr. Salazar reiterated ICAO’s commitment to supporting Thailand in its endeavours for the recovery of the aviation industry in Thailand and the region.
The meeting also provided an opportunity to review avenues for heightened cooperation, including enhancing the alignment of the COVID-19 provisions for entry to Thailand with international guidance by working closely with public health authorities, and a more broadly continued easing of entry requirements.
Mr. Salazar also attended meetings with CAAT and Aeronautical Radio of Thailand (AEROTHAI) officials, where he explored current technical and policy priorities. DGCA Kongpool was joined on these occasions by the CAAT Deputy Director General, Mr. Sarun Benjanirat, and AEROTHAI’s President and Executive Vice President (Operations), Dr. Nopasit Chakpitak and Mr. Tinnagorn Choowong, respectively.
The Secretary General thanked both organizations for their continued contributions to ICAO’s work, including the development of ICAO’s standards and recommended practices and recent regional aviation safety and air navigation capacity planning, in addition to valuable financial and human resources contributions.
Mr. Salazar further highlighted AEROTHAI’s excellent infrastructure, especially in the area of Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM), acknowledging that Thailand is a key contributor to the work of the Asia/Pacific ATFM Steering Group, and appreciating the technical expertise it brings to the work of the Asia/Pacific System-Wide Information Management (SWIM) Task Force.
Throughout all his meetings in Thailand, the Secretary General was accompanied and supported by ICAO’s Regional and Deputy Regional Directors for the Asia Pacific region, Mr. Tao Ma and
Dr. Manjit Singh, respectively.
The Secretary General’s mission to Thailand took place within the context of the lead up to the 41st Session of the Assembly of ICAO’s Member States, which begins in September 2022. The Government of Thailand made clear to the Secretary General that it will participate actively in the Assembly deliberations, and notably on the innovation and resilience priorities which are so critical to the current air transport recovery and sustainability objectives.
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A specialized agency of the United Nations, ICAO was created by governments in 1944 to support their diplomacy on international air transport matters. Since that time, countries have adopted over 12,000 standards and practices through ICAO which help to align their national regulations relevant to aviation safety, security, efficiency, capacity and environmental protection, enabling a truly global network to be realized. ICAO forums also provide opportunities for advice and advocacy to be shared with government decision-makers by industry groups, civil society NGOs, and other officially-recognized air transport stakeholders.
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