Kathmandu, Sept. 11
Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Badri
Pandey sought effective strong cooperation from the neighbouring countries for
the operation of the Pokhara and Gautam Buddha international airports, both
newly built two aviation infrastructure in Nepal.
"For the effective operation of these two airports,
Nepal expects strong support from all of you and especially from the neighbouring
countries," he said while addressing the opening session of the second
ministerial-level conference of the Asia Pacific region of the International
Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) which began in New Delhi, India, on Wednesday.
Minister Pandey said that Nepal's international airports
have already been certified and the country expected regional support to operate
the Pokhara and Gautam Buddha international airports effectively. "This
will also show our commitment to the continuous improvement of our civil
aviation sector," he said.
He strongly urged the ICAO and member countries to
establish an aviation research and training centre in Nepal and said that Nepal
was ready to facilitate its creation.
Stating that Nepal is committed to capacity building for
air safety and that Nepal has achieved the highest achievement in the
implementation of ICAO's Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) by
the year 2022, Minister Pandey informed the regional members that Nepal has
successfully integrated the main principles of the Global Aviation Safety Plan
into the National Safety Plan.
"As a signatory country of the Chicago Convention,
we have accepted the principles of that convention and have initiated a process
to formulate a new law for the establishment of a permanent body to conduct an
independent investigation into the aviation sector accidents," he said.
According to him, Nepal's unique nature, topography and
geography offer a great potential for research and discovery in the field of
aviation. A regional research and training centre can be established in Nepal,
and member countries can work together to promote good efforts in Air
Navigation Services (ANS) related to search and rescue, meteorological services
and air traffic flow management.
Mentioning that safe and flexible aviation
infrastructures are basic component for the improvement of the aviation sector,
Minister Pandey said, "To strengthen the aviation security of this region,
additional cooperation and collaboration is needed among the ICAO member
countries," he said.
Minister Pandey left for India on Tuesday to attend the
ICAO Ministerial Conference.
The ministerial conference is attended by 250
representatives from 41 countries.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 12 September 2024.
No comments:
Post a Comment