The Secretary General of ICAO, Mr.
Raymond Benjamin, says sustained growth of air travel in the coming
years will exert tremendous pressure on air transport systems and
infrastructures, many of which operate at peak capacity in various
parts of the world. He, therefore, calls for change of strategies
to sustain industry growth.
"If we are to meet the technical,
operational and political challenges associated with 
growth, we must bring about
substantive, consistent and timely change to the way we do things,"
he says. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)
believes that for the dream of having a vibrant and hazard-free
aviation industry to be realised the world aviation community must
work together to institute correct strategies and actions that will
accelerate the transformation of global civil aviation. Mr.
Benjamin, who addressed participants at the China Civil Aviation
Development Forum in Beijing recently, notes that his commitment as
Secretary General of ICAO is to ensure that the Organisation fully
exercises its leadership responsibilities in facilitating the
process. He further remarks: "Shortly after taking up my position
as Secretary General in August 2009, I made the decision, supported
by the ICAO Council, to reduce the number of Strategic Objectives
to three.
"My goal was to concentrate all of
our energies on what matters most: safety, security, environmental
protection and the sustainable development of air transport, as
well as concrete and meaningful support to Member States in the
implementation of related ICAO standards and policies. This
approach paid dividends in terms of human and financial resources
deployed on all fronts."