ICAO appreciates cooperation of Arab quartet in aviation safety

CAIRO – 1 Aug 2017: The International Civil Aviation Organization appreciates and supports the cooperation between the Arab quartet in the field of aviation safety in the Middle East region.

Minister of Civil Aviation Sharif Fathi participated on Tuesday in the special session held by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal, Canada.

In the context of the participation of the delegations of the 189 member states of the ICAO in the special session in Montreal held following a complaint submitted by Qatar under article 54 of the Convention of International Civil Aviation (Chicago 1944), which gives member states the right to question any matter related to the convention.
The meeting resulted in the following decisions:

1. To request the Secretariat to continue to implement the emergency plan.

2. Encourage states to cooperate to ensure the implementation of technical solutions.

3. Encourage the Secretariat to update the information regularly and submit it to the council, beginning from the next session of the council.

4. To acknowledge the spirit of cooperation and to provide good offices to facilitate outstanding technical issues, if any.

5. Urge all member states of the ICAO to adhere to the spirit of the Chicago Convention and to cooperate to ensure the safety, security and efficiency of international civil aviation.

Delegations from the Arab quartet presented a joint working paper, which included actions taken in the past few weeks in cooperation with the ICAO Regional Office in Cairo to promote safety over international waters in the Middle East region.

The paper, which included the opening of eight additional airways to relieve pressure on existing routes above international waters, as well as strengthening civil aviation safety in international airspace, was welcomed by members of the council, who praised the spirit of cooperation among the countries of the region at the technical level in civil aviation.

For its part, the ICAO Secretariat presented a working paper supporting the paper of the four countries through a technical report. The organization did not respond to Qatar's request to condemn the four countries for not allowing Qatari aircraft to land there.

The meeting witnessed many discussions at the technical level and Egypt's objection of the attempts to politicize the procedures, stressing the need to abide by the technical aspect in which the meeting was held.


ICAO member states representatives' meeting on July 31, 2017- File Photo