International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)

About:

• In the rankings by the ICAO, India is now at the 48th position, a "quantum leap" from the 102nd rank it had in 2018. The rankings are for 187 countries and assessments were done at different points of time.
• Under its Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) Continuous Monitoring Approach, an ICAO Coordinated Validation Mission (ICVM) was undertaken from November 9 to 16.
• The rankings are topped by Singapore with a score of 99.69 per cent. It is followed by the UAE at the second position and the Republic of Korea is at the third place.
• With a score of 49 per cent each, India and Georgia are at the 48th position. Neighbouring Pakistan is at the 100th spot with a score of 70.39 per cent.

What is ICAO?

• ICAO is funded and directed by 193 national governments to support their diplomacy and cooperation in air transport as signatory states to the Chicago Convention (1944).
  • ‘Chicago Convention’ established the core principles permitting international transport by air, and led to the creation of the specialized agency which has overseen it ever since – the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
• ICAO develops standards for global air transport and assists its 192 Member States in sharing the world’s skies to their socio-economic benefit.
• Headquarters: Montreal, Canada
• Functions:
  • to maintain an administrative and expert bureaucracy (the ICAO Secretariat) supporting diplomatic interactions
  • to research new air transport policy and standardization innovations as directed and endorsed by governments through the ICAO Assembly, or by the ICAO Council which the assembly elects.
  • conducts educational outreach, develops coalitions, and conducts auditing, training, and capacity building activities worldwide per the needs and priorities governments identify and formalize.
• Once governments achieve diplomatic consensus around a new standard’s scope and details, it is then adopted by those same 193 countries in order to bring worldwide alignment to their national regulations, helping to realize safe, secure and sustainable air operations on a truly global basis.