Minister of Transport and Communications H E Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti announced yesterday Qatar has applied for the membership of ICAO’s Council which is elected by the Assembly every three years and consists of 36 members elected in three groups. The Council is a permanent body of the Organisation responsible to the Assembly. He said that the meeting of the Council is scheduled to be held next year.
“Qatar’s civil aviation and transport sector witnessed a great leap and continuous development in light of the development boom of the country under wise-leadership,” said the Minister while addressing the opening ceremony of 5th Global Aviation Training and TrainAir Plus Symposium yesterday at Qatar National Convention Center (QNCC).
He said that one of the prominent developments in the aviation industry is Hamad International Airport (HIA) which has become one of the best airports in the world in terms of competence, service and comfort for passengers. “In addition, Qatar Airways (QA) took the lead and won numerous international awards,” said the Minister.
“Qatar Aeronautical College (QAC), which is hosting the symposium has exerted great efforts to reach its deserved position through signing many agreements, memoranda of understanding and accreditation with international universities,” said the Minister.
H E Al Sulaiti said that by hosting this event, Qatar is able to contribute to its strategic vision towards developing the human factor, given the participation of experts and VIPs from the aviation industry. It also gives the chance to global experts to highlight the best training practices to develop aviation training as it is an important element for growth.
The Minister said Qatar will not hesitate to provide the required support to ICAO, International Air Transport Association (IATA), Airport Council International (ACI) and other international organizations to help the countries apply global standards especially in civil aviation and the recommended practiced including aviation training.
The Minister said the symposium is an important opportunity to gather ICAO member states with training entities and organizations in order to discuss new aspects and partnerships. In addition to raising awareness on the priorities for strengthening the main capacities of aviation training in the near and long term.
Millions of workers in the industry are playing an important role in developing it to ensure the safety for safe operation. “Commercial aviation has doubled in flight and passenger volumes once every fifteen years since this data began being analysed in the mid 1970s, and air traffic continues to grow robustly today. Last year for example, airlines worldwide carried more than 4.1 billion passengers on some 37 million flights,” said Dr. Fang Liu, Secretary-General of ICAO at the ceremony. “Quite remarkably, aviation’s e-commerce impact grew from 16 to 83 percent in just the six years period between 2010 and 2016,” she added.
