Source: ICAO
During the opening ceremony of the ICAO 41st Assembly this week, ICAO Council President Salvatore Sciacchitano recognized nine States’ significant progress in improving safety and security oversight systems by awarding them with Council President Certificates.
These Certificates are awarded on the basis of the outcomes of ICAO’s Universal Safety and Security Oversight Audit Programmes, which pertain to the effective implementation of ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) in these areas.
At this year’s ceremony, ICAO presented Ethiopia, Fiji, Hungary, Slovenia, and Ukraine with certificates for their safety progress, while Serbia, and Tunisia were recognized for their achievements in regard to aviation security. Côte D’Ivoire received certificates for its progress in both aviation safety and aviation security.
The President of the Council also took the opportunity to acknowledge Nigeria’s exceptional level of effective implementation of ICAO safety and security standards, one of the highest in the world, reflecting the organization’s “No Country Left Behind” initiative, with the ICAO support provided to States for the implementation of ICAO policies, global plans and SARPs.
The effective implementation of ICAO’s global Standards and Recommended Practices by States is key to the optimization and alignment of the 193 regulatory frameworks that govern international civil aviation. This in turn is critical to the safety and security of global aviation, which underpin its ability to act as a catalyst for sustainable development worldwide.
While normally issued annually, the presentation of these certificates was interrupted along with the rest of global aviation due to the pandemic. The 2022 ceremony therefore represented the reinstatement of this important global recognition programme.