This is a great honor for me and I am conscious of the challenges ahead. But I am also fully confident that with the support of the world-class professionals in the ICAO EUR/NAT team, we will succeed in carrying out our functions and assisting EUR/NAT States in the achievement of our strategic objectives and implementation of the ICAO Global Air Navigation (GANP), Aviation Safety (GASP) And Aviation Security (GASeP) Plans and the Assembly Resolutions on Environment. The ICAO EUR and NAT Regions have a complex civil aviation regulatory and institutional system, comprised of 56 States and many international and regional organizations. Working in these Regions is challenging and requires deep knowledge and a clear understanding of the relationships and interdependencies. At the same time, it offers vast opportunities and a tremendous source of expertise that could be used for the achievement of our common global objectives. To accomplish that, we need to work closely with all organizations present in the EUR/ NAT Regions to ensure alignment of our work programmes, cooperation, collaboration and partnerships to avoid duplication of work and the use of our resources in the most optimum way.
The working methods of various ICAO EUR/NAT regional working groups, also needs to be improved in order to make them more result oriented and project-based. In addition, it is crucial to expand our involvement in the EUR/NAT No Country Left Behind (NCLB) technical assistance programme, that focuses on the needs of States to enhance their aviation safety oversight capabilities. The NCLB programme is a key part of our work in the Regions’ implementation of the GANP, GASP, GASeP and ICAO Assembly Resolutions on safety, air navigation, environment, aviation security and air transport.
In support of the EUR/NAT NCLB programme, it is necessary to work with EUR/NAT States and international and regional organizations to achieve synergies and ensure support of the programme as partners and donors. Close cooperation with various financial institutions to seek funding possibilities to implement regional NCLB projects is also important.
I understand that none of this is possible without the support and cooperation of States, international and regional organizations and industry stakeholders. Coordination, cooperation and collaboration between all of us are key to enabling the achievement of our common strategic objective of a safe, secure, efficient and environmentally friendly civil aviation.
A lot has happened since our last edition and this section of the newsletter will provide you with some highlights on the latest developments in the EUR/ NAT Region: from the Technical Assistance Programme to the Aviation Data and Analysis Seminar or the CORSIA Regional Seminar.
Elkhan Nahmadov is ICAO Deputy Regional Director of the ICAO for Europe and North Atlantic Office since 2018. Mr. Nahmadov has more than 20 years of experience on aviation. In 1993 he started to work for Azerbaijan Air Navigation Services where he held several positions e.g. Aeronautical engineer, Head of the Development department and later Deputy Director.
In 2006 Mr. Nahmadov joined the ICAO Europe and North Atlantic Office as Air Navigation Officer.
This article was originally written for the ICAO EUR/NAT Office’s Newsletter (Issue 3) on May 2018. A full list of their newsletters can be found here.