Opening remarks for Canada’s Minister of Transport, the Honourable Omar Alghabra, Third Safer Skies Forum

NETHERLANDS (via video from Canada)

June 6, 2023

Hello everyone.

I am happy to join you to launch the third Safer Skies Forum.

I wish I could have attended in person, and I join Minister Harbers in welcoming everyone, whether you are attending in person or whether you are participating virtually, like me.

Minister Harbers, thank you for your generosity, for co-hosting of this event, and for helping bring the Safer Skies Forum to life.

This is the first in-person Forum since its inception, and we thank the government of the Netherlands for helping bring all of us together for this important work.

I also extend my thanks to the Dutch and Canadian teams who have worked together diligently, over many months, to make this Forum possible.

I also want to thank president Sciacchitano and ICAO’s team for their leadership and support.

To our partners from States, international organizations, and the civil aviation industry – thank you for being here.

We can only make our skies safer if we work together.

The Safer Skies Initiative continues to be a priority for the Government of Canada – and for me, personally.

Aviation is critical for keeping people and places connected across the planet.

Unfortunately, conflict zones around the world continue to be a real danger for civil aviation operations.

Over the next two days, as we focus on strategies and best practices to protect civil aviation operations, let us not forget the tragedies that prompted us to take action.

In January 2020, the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 took the lives of 176 innocent individuals, including 55 Canadian nationals, 30 permanent residents of Canada, and many others with close ties to Canada.

To this day, Iran has still not provided fulsome answers to the many questions that remain.

This is unacceptable to families, to Canada, and to the world.

Without accountability, the world will remain unsatisfied.

Canada will continue to fight for transparency, accountability, and justice for the families of the victims.

Five years earlier, Dutch families and friends were devastated by the grievous downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, resulting in 298 lives lost.

Compelled by that tragedy, the Dutch government dedicated itself to enhancing the safety and security of civil aviation over or near conflict zones.

I am very grateful for the Netherlands’ leadership, which laid the foundation for the Safer Skies Initiative.

During this Forum, you will be hearing from the Chairman of the MH17 Disaster Foundation Board, as well as the Spokesperson and Chair of the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims, to honour their loved ones and remind us of the importance of our work.

In March 2022, at the second Safer Skies Forum, we came together to lay the groundwork for improved collaboration and information sharing.

During this third Forum, we will continue to build upon that foundation.

We will discuss best practices for refocusing conflict zone management systems, to make them preventative instead of reactive.

The Safer Skies Consultative Committee, co-chaired by Canada and the Netherlands, has continued to make progress with meaningful work on conflict zone risk management.

The Committee has worked on:

• a list of principles to help States decide whether to close their airspace due to dangerous conflict situations;
• a mechanism for rapidly sharing emerging conflict zone threat information with pilots; and
• prioritizing sharing baseline risk information on conflict zones around the world.

The Safer Skies Consultative Committee’s work – including strengthening guidance in the ICAO Risk Assessment Manual for Civil Aircraft Operations Over or Near Conflict Zones – will be prominent throughout discussions at this Forum.

At ICAO’s 41st General Assembly, I and my colleagues in the European Union submitted a working paper requesting that ICAO prioritize a review of the Manual.

Our working paper was universally supported by the ICAO General Assembly.

The Manual was submitted to ICAO for official review in January 2023, after a thorough analysis by the Safer Skies Consultative Committee.

In just a few minutes, we will have an update from the ICAO Secretariat, on their review of the Manual.

I am grateful for ICAO’s continued work to advance the Safer Skies Initiative.

We all share accountability.

In this, ICAO plays an important role.

Unfortunately, because of the state of our world today, we need to keep working to prevent future conflict zone-related aviation tragedies.

Indeed, the need and urgency for preventative measures and cooperation on safe air travel has only increased.

Russia’s continuing illegal and unjustifiable war in Ukraine has degraded regional air safety, given rise to new risks, and has redrawn the global air travel map.

Over the last year, partners across the global civil aviation community have worked together very closely, to share information about this and other emerging or evolving conflicts.

I call on all parties present today to continue this collaborative spirit.

We can only keep our skies safe and prevent future tragedies if we work together.

Among states who issue guidance to air carriers about conflict zones, we are seeing more accountability and consistency.

For example, in April, Egypt issued a NOTAM on behalf of Sudanese authorities.

This demonstrates leadership in addressing increased risk when national authorities may not be able to maintain adequate measures throughout a conflict.

We have momentum, and we must keep going.

We all want to protect innocent lives.

Across the civil aviation community, we all share the responsibility of ensuring the safety and security of commercial aircraft over or near conflict zones.

Despite the undeniable progress we’ve made since the Safer Skies Initiative was launched, we need to acknowledge that there is still a lot of work to do.

Building on knowledge and experience gained in the last few years, our goal is now to bring concepts into practice.

The Safer Skies Consultative Committee will continue to seek new opportunities for building global conflict zone risk management capacity, in a more targeted way – including here, at this Forum.

Again, I thank you for attending and participating.

Thank you.