Outcomes of the 70th Special meeting of Directors General of Civil Aviation
Tirana/virtual, 26-28 August 2021 - Air transport developments in Albania, recent EU developments - in particular on the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2021 - and developments in ICAO, including the main outcomes of the 223rd Council Session deliberations and European priorities and ambitions for the ICAO High-level Conference on COVID-19 (12-22 October 2021) were on the table for discussion at the 70th Special meeting of Directors General of Civil Aviation (DGCA/70(SP)).
The meeting was held over three days in Tirana in a hybrid format, with 57 Member State representatives joining the meeting on-site and 40 online, offering many Directors General the opportunity to meet in person for the first time in well over a year.
This was the first DGCA meeting chaired by Alessio Quaranta in his capacity as ECAC President. He was joined by ICAO Secretary General Juan Carlos Salazar and Albanian Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Belinda Balluku, who both addressed the meeting.
Ahead of next year’s 41st session of the ICAO Assembly, the meeting discussed the elections to the ICAO Council and the high-level strategic ambitions for the Assembly. Directors General identified environment, COVID follow-up including crisis response and health safety, cyber security, and innovation as European strategic priorities for the Assembly.
EASA, EUROCONTROL and the ECAC Secretariat shared information on recent developments in safety, ATM and environment matters. ECAC Executive Secretary, Patricia Reverdy, and Deputy Executive Secretary, Mark Rodmell, provided updates on recent ECAC Secretariat activities, including the implementation of the CASE II Project, and forthcoming events such as ECAC Forum/14.
An innovative feature of the meeting was a high-level briefing on the long-term aspirational goal for international aviation (LTAG), delivered by César Velarde, ECAC Climate Change and Capacity-Building Specialist. Directors General welcomed the initiative and asked the ECAC Secretariat to prepare similar briefings on other subjects for future meetings.