Embassy of India
Beijing
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PRESS RELEASE
Visit of Hon'ble Minister for Civil Aviation, Shri Ashok Gajapathi Raju to Beijing

An Indian delegation led by Shri Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Hon'ble Minister for Civil Aviation attended the 1 st Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Civil Aviation held in Beijing, China from 31 st January to 1 st February, 2018. The purpose of this conference was to address the issue of Universal Safety Oversite Audit Programme (USOAP) of ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation). Besides this the issues of air navigation were also discussed, as it was felt that there is no regionally coordinated future plans on Air Traffic Management like the SESAR in Europe or NextGen in USA. In nutshell, the core objective of this conference was to get potential mandate of Ministers of Asia Pacific Region to collaborate at the regional level to address the issues of Aviation Safety, Air Navigation Services, Accident Investigation and Human Resource Development.

2. Hon'ble Minister delivered the speech during conference depicting India's contribution in aviation sector. He clarified that India remains committed to ICAO's objectives of performance driven, and results based management strategies to achieve consistent improvements in the areas of safety, efficiency, security and environment. Significant improvements have already taken place and will take place in the sphere of providing better airport infrastructure through liberal and dynamic policy initiatives.

3. A high level declaration was also discussed and adopted during the 1 st Asia Pacific Conference. It lends a clear direction and focus towards speedy development of safe and sustainable civil aviation in Asia Pacific region. The declaration would give a strong support to the Civil Aviation Authorities in the States to implement the priority programme in terms of enhanced availability of resources. The declaration also gives a very positive signal to the travelling public, industry partners and potential investors about the high level commitment from the States in the region in the areas of safety and efficiency of operations and air navigation services.

4. The aim of the conference is to implement ICAO's initiatives i.e. "No Country Left Behind" where there is change in focus from striving for individual states excellence to a scenario where States and Industry partners need to cooperate and collaborate to bring about collective improvements in safety and security standards.

5. The Minister also had a meeting with Mr. Feng Zhenglin, Administrator, CAAC (Civil Aviation Administration of China) and discussed various issues including regarding increasing air connectivity between two countries.