ICAO MEETING HOSTED BY PJIAE OPENS

The 32nd Annual Eastern Caribbean Working Group Meeting, hosted by PJIAE got underway on Tuesday June 15th 2010, at the Westin Resort. The meeting which runs till June 18th under the auspices of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), NACC Regional Office, brings some 35 delegates – representing the aviation regulatory bodies of the islands in the Eastern Caribbean chain – to St. Maarten.

Delegates will look at air navigation matters such as "Optimisation of Air Traffic Services routes, enhancing capacity and efficiency of aerodrome operations, improving the availability of meteorological information, and Human Resources Strategy and Training for the next Generation of Aviation Professionals."
The previous Eastern Caribbean Working Group Meeting was held in St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda, from 5 to 8 October 2009. ICAO's Regional Officer of Communications, Navigation and Surveillance, Mr. Julio Siu said it represents a unique opportunity. "Especially for the designated Air Navigation experts from Eastern Caribbean States to discuss the implementation of Air Navigation issues defined in the ICAO Air Navigation Plan and the ICAO Regional Performance-Based Air Navigation Implementation Plan for North American, Caribbean and South America," said Mr. Siu. He applauded St. Maarten and PJIAE for hosting the conference.

This is the third aviation meeting PJIAE is hosting in as many years.

Drs. Eugene Holiday, President of PJIAE said hosting this ICAO meeting of Caribbean aviation regulatory bodies comes at an appropriate and interesting time for St. Maarten. “It comes at time when St. Maarten is preparing to change its constitutional status to that of Autonomous Country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in less than four months. It comes on the eve of St. Maarten establishing its own civil aviation authority to assume regulatory and oversight responsibilities for aviation matters on the island. With the change of Status St. Maarten will take its place and play a larger role in regional meetings of this nature in the near future,” he told the gathering at the conference, which was declared open by St. Maarten’s Tourism and Aviation Commissioner Frans Richardson.

About ICAO
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, codifies the principles and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the planning and development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth. Its headquarters are located in the Quartier International of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

About The ICAO Eastern Caribbean Working Group
The ICAO Eastern Caribbean Working Group was established by Agreement No. 2/1 of the Informal ATS CAR/SAM 1/75 Meeting held in Bridgetown, Barbados from 14 to 17 October 1975, for the purpose of examining problems affecting airspace organization and utilization in the Eastern Caribbean area for States and Territories in the PIARCO and San Juan FIRs. The terms of reference were expanded at the E/CAR/WG/18 Meeting (Saint Lucia, 1994) to include the continuous examination of problems affecting all air navigation fields in the Eastern Caribbean area. The Terms of Reference were revised at the E/CAR/WG/31 Meeting (Antigua and Barbuda, 2009) with a performance based approach for the implementation and improvement in all air navigation fields in the Eastern Caribbean area.

 

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