Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Transportation Working Group
Steering Committee on Safe and Environment-Friendly Transportation Systems
Aviation Safety Initiative (United States)
Proposal for Seminar:
"Setting the Stage for Aviation Safety"

Background:

The APEC Ministers of Transport, at the June 1997 Transport Ministerial, directed the Steering Committee on Safe and Environment-Friendly Transportation Systems to take the lead in monitoring implementation by APEC Economies of the recommendations of the former APEC Group of Experts on Aviation Safety and Assistance (GEASA). The GEASA report originally identified ninety-two potential safety problems which resulted in recommendations in the five areas of lack of adequate civil aviation safety oversight; lack of harmonization of civil aviation safety rules; concern regarding traffic conflicts; lack of good incident reporting data bases; and availability of appropriate skills in industry.

As part of the Aviation Safety Initiative, in 1998 the United States surveyed all APEC Economies on the status of aviation safety in their respective Economies. The results were analyzed and a report was made to, and endorsed by, the Transportation Working Group in April 1999. Of the nine areas surveyed regarding Economies’ implementation of the GEASA safety recommendations, one in particular, "High Priority for Civil Aviation Safety," was revealed to need much more work to meet the expectations of the APEC Transport Ministers. Although all of the APEC Economies surveyed indicated that a public announcement or other indication that aviation safety is a high priority had been made, many Economies also indicated that there was a lack of adequate revenue and personnel in place for aviation safety oversight.

Seminar Proposal:

At its meeting in April 1999, the Transportation Working Group endorsed the idea of hosting a one-day seminar on the topic of aviation safety. As coordinator of the Aviation Safety initiative, the United States has developed a proposal for such a seminar to be called, "Setting the Stage for Aviation Safety." The seminar, as one of its goals, will present case studies of Economies that have successfully managed targeted efforts to realize aviation as a national priority.

Some of the topics to be discussed might include:

• The Economic Argument: Enlisting support of high-level government officials by finding and presenting economic data to show that aviation is key to economic development by expanding trade and investment opportunities, enabling integration into a global marketplace, developing a skilled workforce and promoting tourism, business and local travel;

• The Regulatory Framework: Working with legislative officials to develop requisite standards and policy statements and resulting funding requirements for aviation system improvements;

• The Management Philosophy: Maintaining aviation funding priorities given potential pitfalls and developing a safety culture including oversight of industry to ensure compliance.

The United States is prepared to develop such a seminar for inclusion in the program of the next meeting of the TPT-WG to be hosted by Singapore in March 2000. The United States agrees to develop the seminar agenda and list of speakers intercessionally and will provide this information through the TPT-WG Heads of Delegation as soon as it becomes available. The United States welcomes the support and input of all Economies in developing such a seminar.

This page was last updated on 1 Feb, 2008