Ottawa/CMEDIA: Hosted virtually by Transport Canada and the Safer Skies Consultative Committee, the Safer Skies Forum, the only international forum dedicated to mitigating the risks of airspace over or near conflict zones was officially launched on Tuesday by Omar Alghabra, Canada’s Minister of Transport to ensure the safety of air travel.
Canada aligned with its international partners is committed to improving the safety of air travel since the senseless shoot down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 by Iran in January 2020.
“Canada is proud to host the second Safer Skies Forum…to manage risks to civil aviation and keep passengers around the world safe…efficiently managing airspace in or near conflict zones is more important now than ever…help ensure that tragedies like PS752 and MH17 never happen again,” said Alghabra in a news release.
During his address, Alghabra announced that Canada will be collaborating with international partners to draft a Working Paper on initiatives to improve conflict zone risk mitigation practices around the globe and urged countries to support it ahead of the next International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly.
Alghabra also announced the intention of the Netherlands and Canada to co-host the next Safer Skies Forum in the Netherlands in 2023.
With an aim to bring together expert partners, countries from around the world, international organizations, and the civil aviation industry, the Safer Skies Forum ensures sharing of best practices, enabling information sharing and collaboration between parties, advocating for the implementation of the ICAO’s Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) related to safeguarding airspace in or near conflict zones.
