Council President encourages Nicaragua to pursue its leadership of aviation development

Created on 23.05.2018 15:13

The President of the ICAO Council, Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, has undertaken a mission to Nicaragua, at the invitation of its Government, to deliver remarks at the inauguration of its primary and secondary radar and to conduct a series of high-level meetings. The inauguration was attended by Capt. Carlos Salazar Sanchez, Director General of the Nicaragua Institute for Civil Aviation (INAC),    Mr. Laureano Ortega, President of the Pro-Nicaragua Commission and representative of the Nicaraguan Presidency, and Mr. Jorge Vargas Araya, Executive President of the Corporación Centroamericana de Servicios de Navegación Aérea (COCESNA).

ICAO’s Universal Safety Oversight Audit programme reveals that Nicaragua’s effective implementation of ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices sits at 94.09%, within the top ten worldwide. It has also achieved 100% completion of both performance based navigation (PBN) implementation and international aerodrome certification.

Over the past five years, Nicaraguan air traffic, as calculated by departures, has grown on average by 47% annually. This is of pivotal importance to the strategic development of its tourism sector and reflects Nicaragua’s commitment to the development of its aviation sector, in addition to its pursuit of the liberalization of air services.

On the occasion of the inauguration, the President of the ICAO Council encouraged other States in the region to pursue Nicaragua’s exemplary and crucial commitment in regard to the development of its national aviation sector and the global civil aviation network.

“The inauguration of this crucial infrastructure represents a direct step forward for air navigation in your country, but it also symbolizes the continuous and deeply crucial progress you have achieved across all aspects of your aviation sector,” Dr. Aliu remarked at the event. “These achievements have resulted from a deep understanding of the key role aviation plays as a catalyst for sustainable socio-economic development and the critical importance of ICAO compliance to the development of air connectivity.”

Nicaragua has additionally provided exceptional momentum in support of progress on ICAO’s initiatives in this region, especially those undertaken by the ICAO Regional Office for North and Central America and the Caribbean (NACC) under the No Country Left Behind (NCLB) Strategy.

Taking place from 8 to 12 April 2018, Dr. Aliu’s mission to Nicaragua comprised high-level meetings with the COCESNA Executive Council. This included the participation of the Minister of Defence of Honduras, Mr. Marlon Pascua, the Minister of Public Works and Transport of Costa Rica, Mr. German Valverde González, the Director Generals of the Civil Aviation Authorities of Belize and Guatemala, the representative of El Salvador to COCESNA, the representative of Panama and the Central American Rotation Group on the ICAO Council, Mr. Germinal Sarasqueta, and the Air Transport Director of the INAC, Ms. Eveling Arauz.

Dr. Aliu witnessed COCESNA’s signature of intention to establish a Regional Incident and Accident Investigation Group for the Central American Region. Dr. Aliu also observed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation between COCESNA- Agencia Centroamericana para la Seguridad Aeronáutica (ACSA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), and attended tours of COCESNA’s aviation infrastructure facilities.

During the mission, Cap. Salazar affirmed Nicaragua’s commitment to aviation security and facilitation working plans to Dr. Aliu, with a view to improving the effective implementation of Annex 17 Standards and related aviation security issues in Annex 9. This was coordinated by the INAC aviation security team and Mr. Ricardo G. Delgado, ICAO’s NACC Regional Officer for Aviation Security and Facilitation, who accompanied Dr. Aliu on this mission.

1234 views