In Geneva on 7 March 2023, ICAO Council President Salvatore Sciacchitano delivered the keynote address to the CANSO Executive Summit at "Airspace World," where he advocated for greater cooperation between air navigation service providers and ICAO to heighten the sustainability and resilience of the global flight network.
Highlighting the outcomes of the 41st Session of the ICAO Assembly (A41) and recent ICAO Council deliberations, the President underscored that achieving these priorities for ICAO and for the global aviation sector as a whole will require integrating the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, and effectively addressing challenges related to environmental protection, in particular climate change.
The President's mission to Switzerland was preceded by a series of bilateral discussions that took place in Brussels on 6 March. The President met with the Director General of EUROCONTROL, Mr Raúl Medina, followed by the European Commission's Director General for Climate Action, Mr. Kurt Vandenberghe, and then the European Commissioner for Transport, Ms. Adina Valean.
These meetings focussed on the realization of the ambitious outcomes of A41, including the decarbonization of air transport by 2050, the mitigation of threats to civil aviation in conflict zones and the importance of the "Safer Skies" initiative in this regard, and pressing concerns around cybersecurity. The central role ICAO plays as the platform for the global coordination on these issues informed discussions around enhancing cooperation between Europe and ICAO, and between Europe and States in other regions.
