Jamaica has been elected to the powerful 36-member International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council for the 2022-2025 triennium.
The election took place during the ICAO’s 41st Assembly which is underway at the Organization’s headquarters in Montréal, Canada.
Minister of Transport and Mining Audley Shaw, who is heading Jamaica’s delegation to the Assembly, described Jamaica’s election to the council as “a pivotal one for the nation and region.”
He said this will ensure a platform for more uniform and inclusive participation in aviation deliberations and development, across all regions.
“This will be achieved through greater and more strategic representation of our special needs and circumstances, as well as the infusion of unique, dynamic, and novel perspectives that can regenerate, further stabilize, and assist the growth of the aviation sector,” Shaw said.
The minister emphasized that Jamaica sees its role as increasingly important as the country positions itself to support the much-needed acceleration of the aviation industry’s key development and sustainability priorities.
For his part, the director general of the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority, Nari Williams-Singh, indicated that the election “demonstrated Jamaica’s significant and continued contribution to the field of civil aviation.”
Additionally, he said it is indicative of “our commitment to supporting the promotion of international standards that ensure uncompromised safety, efficiency, security and environmental sustainability within the region and beyond.”
“Being elected to the ICAO Council gives us the opportunity to ensure that the needs of small island developing states (SIDS), like Jamaica, are heard and considered in developing aviation policy,” Williams-Singh said.
“We can continue making our positive contribution in the field of aviation, especially at a time when our industry is coming out of a very difficult period.”
Jamaica’s election to Part III of the council, comprising states ensuring geographic representation, is expected to be of strategic importance for the island, the Caribbean, other SIDS, as well as Least Developed States, globally.
The election is important, given the council’s pre-eminent role in providing guidance for the work of the ICAO as the international aviation oversight body while assuming responsibility for standards adoption and the organization’s other governance engagements when the 193-member assembly is not in session.
The council, a permanent body of ICAO, which gives continuing direction to the work of the organization, is elected by the assembly every three years.
Jamaica has been an ICAO member state since 1963 and represented the English-speaking Caribbean on the council from 1977 to 1986.
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