As Guyana seeks to improve its aviation sector, Junior Public Infrastructure Minister Annette Ferguson attended the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s 39th General Assembly in Montreal, Canada, where a pledge was taken by member countries to reduce CO2 emissions from the global aviation sector.
From left: GCAA Chairman, Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Lawrence London; Minister within the Public Infrastructure Ministry, Annette Ferguson; GCAA Director General, Egbert Field and Air Transport Management Director Saheed Sulaman
The Assembly was held from September 27 to October 7, and was attended by Minister Ferguson, who led a five-person team to represent Government. Among those in the team were: Chairman of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) Board, Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Lawrence London; GCAA Director General, Lieutenant Colonel Egbert Field; Director of Air Transport Management, Saheed Sulaman, and Rickford Samaroo, Director of Air Navigation Services.
Also forming part of Guyana’s delegation were two members from the Caricom Secretariat, Single Market Programme Advisor Desiree Field-Ridley, and Deputy Programme Manager Pauline Yearwood.
Guyana’s participation in the Assembly provided opportunities for the country to join with other small States to represent the interest of small developing countries. It also creates the platform for Guyana to reach out to both States and international organisations for financial and technical assistance to raise the standards of aviation in the country.
To this end, during the Assembly, Guyana held bilateral meetings with Malaysia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Republic of Korea, and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
The 39th Assembly was opened by President of the ICAO Council, Dr Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu (Nigeria) and the Mayor of Montreal, Denis Coderre. Many Ministers with responsibility for civil aviation attended the triennial Assembly, along with technical experts from civil aviation authorities and representatives from airlines and international organisations.
This 39th Assembly was the largest in the history of the ICAO, with attendances from 184 Member States and 2225 delegates.
As mandated by the Chicago Convention on International Aviation, the Assembly meets once every three years to review the work of ICAO in the technical, economic, legal and technical assistance fields and to set ICAO’s work programme and budget for the next triennium.
During this year’s Assembly, Member States elected the 36 Member States that make up the ICAO Council in three parts.
The Council carries out the directions of the Assembly and discharges the duties and obligations laid on it by the Chicago Convention.
Some of the high-level issues that were discussed included Environmental Protection (International Aviation and Climate Change); Aviation Security Policies; Civil Aviation Training Policy and Capacity Building; Aviation Safety and Air Navigation Standardisation; and the Economic Development of Air Transport.
The 39th Assembly adopted a historic resolution to implement a Global Market-Based Measure (GMBM) scheme in the form of a Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) to address annual increases in total CO2 emissions from international civil aviation (ie civil aviation flights that depart in one country and arrive in a different country) above the 2020 levels. The GMBM scheme is part of the ICAO basket of measures which include developing aircraft technologies, operational improvements, and sustainable alternative fuels to achieve ICAO’s global aspirational goal of keeping the global net CO2 emissions from international aviation from 2020 at the same level.
