Last week ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu joined ICAO South American (SAM) Regional Office Director Fabio Rabbani and his team (who are pictured above) for a series of lively events and ceremonies aimed at commemorating the SAM Office’s landmark 70th Anniversary in Lima, Peru.
The SAM Office was established in Lima in November 1948, and is accredited to all South American States. It encompasses the entire geographic area between Panama and Antarctica, including major portions of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
To celebrate the Office’s seven illustrious decades of work in forging consensus on ICAO’s global harmonization priorities among SAM Region States, and to thank Peru for the incredible support and generosity relevant to its hosting, Dr. Liu, with the First Council Vice President and some Council Representatives, were pleased to attend a number of SAM70 activities coinciding with International Civil Aviation Day on 7 December.
These included meetings with Peru’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Nestor Popolizio, and its Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr. Edmer Trujillo Mori, the inauguration of a new Hall of Tribute to South American Aviation Pioneers, located within the SAM Regional Office, and the presentation of a new commemorative stamp by Peru.
The Secretary General was also pleased to open a new photographic exhibition at Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs illustrating ICAO’s history and Peru’s contributions to its work, and took part in an unveiling of a new monument celebrating this history at Jorge Chavez International Airport.
A high-level luncheon hosted by Peru’s Directorate for Civil Aviation also took place on International Civil Aviation Day.
Every ICAO regional office is responsible for serving the Contracting States to which it is accredited. They maintain liaison with non-Contracting States and other territories in the areas of general responsibility, for the performance of the following:
- Air Navigation Functions, including, assisting, expediting and following up of action by States to implement regional plans and regional supplementary procedures; and implementation of ICAO Standards, Recommended Practices and procedures
- Air Transport Functions, including States and international organizations of ICAO air transport policies and activities, and encouraging States to file statistics, to implement Annex 9 on facilitation, to submit replies to economic study questionnaires and to submit data for revision of the Manual of Airport and Air Navigation Facility Tariffs (Doc 7100).
- Regional Bodies, where established, close co-operation with the regional bodies: African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC), European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC), Latin American Civil Aviation Commission (LACAC), and co-ordination of interrelated work programmes to avoid duplication of effort and to ensure harmony in the development of the international air transport system as a whole.
- Technical Co-operation Functions, including the Regional Scholarship Programme and assistance in investigating fellowship applications; provision of advice on programming, including co-ordination within the region of requests for regional projects; briefing of newly-recruited Technical Co-operation experts.
- Legal, obtaining current copies of air laws and regulations, as well as information on contemplated air legislation and regulations, from Contracting States; obtaining, on request, judicial information relating to aviation matters.
- Aviation Security, encouraging, assisting, expediting, monitoring and following up all aspects of aviation security in accordance with ICAO policy, Standards, Recommended Practices and procedures.
- General, reporting on implementation by States of Assembly and Council Resolutions regarding aviation security; reporting on aviation accidents and incidents to enable follow-up action by ICAO as may be required; the distribution of ICAO publications and documents in accordance with Headquarters policy; the holding of meetings at regional office locations, or other appropriate locations within the areas of general responsibility, the participation in press, television and radio interviews and the provision of lectures on ICAO activities; the follow-up with Contracting States, as required, on the collection of contributions and the attendance at meetings of other international organizations.