World governing body to discuss aviation security in Dubai

An ICAO seminar, on March 16 will follow the Airport, Port and Terminal Security (APTS) Middle East conference and exhibition which will run at the Grand Hyatt, Dubai from March 14 -15.

The Montreal-based ICAO is the world governing body responsible for the standardisation of international civil aviation worldwide. The worldwide harmonisation of ICAO standards is an essential part of its work.

Jalal Haidar, ICAO's Regional Officer for Aviation Security in the Middle East and North Africa specialises in the legal aspects of international aviation security policy. He said: "The UAE is one of the Middle East's leading countries in the development of a modern civil aviation security infrastructure."

The seminar audience will discuss the impact of standards set by ICAO as well as how countries can benefit from its resources.

Captain Mohammed Aziz of the Arab Air Carriers Organisation believes in the importance of governments, airlines and airports working together.

"If all states don't work together we will never have secure travel," he said. "Any weak-link in the chain will cause the whole to collapse. It is in the interest of all the airlines, governments and airports to work together, both at home and in other countries."

Captain Aziz is a firm believer in 'the security culture.' "I think APTS is significant in that it brings both port and airport authorities together. There are many times when carriers transport cargo between airplanes and ships, not knowing what they are carrying. We need to promote the security culture along the whole chain.

"Taking separate security measures is inefficient. We need to be consistent when applying security measures and ensure efficiency at the same time."

But security breaches, he warned, do happen and learning from mistakes is valuable training. "Circulating the right information to people who work in a specific area whenever there is an incident reported is important because even if security breaches don't happen at home, it can get to home if we don't maintain vigilance."

Developing and promoting staff training is an important part of ICAO's action plan. The Aviation Security section is responsible for actioning an international civil aviation training programme through a network of 15 worldwide aviation security training centres. The ICAO Universal Training Network plans to certify trained aviation security professionals.

"All States do an excellent job but the UAE Government has invested tremendously in the development and growth of human resources in aviation security," added Haider.

ICAO was created over 60 years ago as a specialist United Nations agency to promote the safe and orderly development of international civil aviation. Amongst ICAO's 188 contracting states it serves as a forum for co-operation in civil aviation fields.