Meeting between new ICAO Secretary-General and CTC Chair and Executive Director of CTED.
The newly appointed Secretary-General of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Dr. Fang Liu, on 24 September 2015 met with the Chair of the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) and the Executive Director of its Executive Directorate (CTED) in New York.
Chair of CTC H.E. Raimonda Murmokaité congratulated the Secretary-General on her appointment, and praised the enhanced level of cooperation between ICAO and the Committee. The Chair noted challenges associated with assisting States that do not have the capacity or resources to put in place mechanisms to stem the flow of terrorists and suspected foreign terrorist fighters who travel by air. Of particular concern to the Chair was the issue of States which have the capacity but are not fully implementing the instruments and tools available to prevent this type of travel.
From left to right: CTC Chair, Executive Director of CTED, and the Secretary-General of ICAO.
The Secretary-General expressed her appreciation for the high level of cooperation already established between ICAO and the Committee and CTED. She indicated a strong desire to work closely with CTC and CTED to help African Union States in particular in enhancing their human and physical infrastructure capacity on aviation security, including in the areas of training, and introduction of an e-passport regime. Dr. Liu also conveyed her wish to receive CTC and CTED support in getting more States to adopt the so-called Public Key Directory (PKD) format.
Executive Director of CTED Jean-Paul Laborde underlined his concern about the low number of States which have or are currently implementing so-called advance passenger information – or API – systems. He expressed his confidence in ICAO leading in bringing forward standardization to address the numerous security-related concerned associated with aviation. Like the Chair, the Executive Director also conveyed his wish that ICAO and CTED better coordinate the systematic exchange of information and assessments, including through the Secretary-General briefing the Committee and the CTC Chair and CTED Executive Director attending ICAO high-level events in the near future.