Last week, ICAO Secretary General Juan Carlos Salazar concluded five days of successful advocacy with European transport and environmental policy leaders, with a view to further enhance global cooperation on aviation sustainability, resilience, and innovation.
Mr. Salazar began his mission in Paris, where he participated in the 160th meeting of the Directors General of Civil Aviation of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC), held in ICAO's Regional Office for Europe and North Atlantic. He delivered a keynote address, highlighting key priorities for ICAO and underscoring the achievements made by ECAC States in various domains, in particular with respect to sustainability.
The Secretary General's activities in Brussels began with a presentation to Members of the European Parliament, Committee on Transport and Tourism, focused on priorities for the sustainable development of air transport, including current and upcoming activities to achieve ICAO's long-term global aspirational goal (LTAG) for international aviation of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, and the importance of global coordination and cooperation.
Subsequent meetings with the European Commission encompassed discussions on sustainability, safety, security, cybersecurity, resilience and other key issues with the Director General of the Directorate-General Climate Action (DG CLIMA), Mr. Kurt Vandenberghe; and with the Acting Director General of Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE), Ms. Maja Bakran Marcich.
Mr. Salazar and Ms. Bakran Marcich also co-chaired the annual meeting of the EU-ICAO Joint Committee. At this occasion, the Secretary General signed a Joint Committee Decision for an Appendix to the Working Arrangement regarding the cooperation in the area of accident and incident reporting in civil aviation.
Addressing high-level representatives of the EC and beneficiary States, the Secretary General also launched the "Capacity Building for Sustainable Aviation Fuels eligible under CORSIA and in support of achieving net zero emissions by 2050" project (pictured), within the framework of the ICAO Capacity-building and Training for Sustainable Aviation Fuels programme (ACT-SAF) programme.
Several meetings then took place with the Director General of EUROCONTOL, Mr. Raúl Medina, and the management of SESAR Joint Undertaking and SESAR Deployment. These focused on innovation in air navigation services and Europe's leadership in this domain, and highlighted the contributions to ICAO.
Mr. Salazar and Mr. Medina signed an Annex to the Agreement between EUROCONTROL and ICAO relating to the development and hosting of the location of an aircraft in distress repository (LADR) - a key step for enhancing aircraft tracking and facilitating search and rescue operations. The Secretary General also visited the new building of the EUROCONTOL Network Manager OPS Center.
On the final day of his mission, the Secretary General held meetings in Cologne with the Executive Director of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Mr. Patrick Ky, and with its Executive Committee. These activities, which coincided with Agency's 20th anniversary, focused on the cooperation between EASA and ICAO on standardization, audit and monitoring, and implementation support.
The Secretary General's mission in Europe also comprised a bilateral meeting with representatives of the Government of Germany. Mr. Salazar was accompanied throughout his mission to Europe by ICAO Regional Director for Europe and the North Atlantic, Mr. Nicolas Rallo.
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