From 20 to 23 April an ICAO Regional Facilitation Implementation seminar was conducted in close cooperation between ICAO Headquarters and the Regional Office.
A wide range of key issues related to Annex 9 to the Chicago Convention encompassing recent amendments 27 and 28 were discussed as well as upcoming meetings such as the Facilitation Panel and the High Level COVID-19 conference where Facilitation with its role in supporting the management of the pandemic will be a major topic.
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Further emphasis was given to developments in the area of electronic machine readable travel documents, visible digital seal (VDS) and its application for testing and vaccination certificates during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the ICAO Public Key Directory and Master List and their importance for border control. Finally, chapter 9 of Annex 9, Passenger Data Exchange Systems, namely Advance Passenger Information (API), Passenger Name Record (PNR) and the importance of a Single Window concept were discussed with a specific highlight on the implementation requirements for States. Experience was shared by States who have already implemented API and/or PNR and a single window concept. Interpol, IATA and WCO provided information on their respective roles in developing API and PNR taking into account that the usefulness of API/PNR data transfer depends on the joint effort of all organizations.
The seminar was held in English and Russian languages and a total of 200 participants from 33 States and 7 international and regional organizations as well as industry attended.
To support States, the seminar material is available on the ICAO EUR/NAT official webpage here