JAMAICA’S Free Air Policy will get a boost from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) conference which ended on Friday, with the signing of 15 Air Services Agreement with member states at the Conference.
There was high praise for the International Conference on Air Services Negotiations (ICAN) which took place during the ICAO, as all the delegates reported success in finalising Air Services agreements and arrangements over the period.
The conference, which was held at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Montego Bay from June 28 to July 2, hosted more than 150 delegates from 40 member states. They participated in some 200 meetings which resulted in over 60 air services agreements and arrangements being signed by the end of the conference.
Loretta Martin, ICAO regional director, thanked the Jamaican Government and the civil aviation authority for hosting the meeting, and the delegates for the work achieved. She was speaking at the closing press conference.
“Congratulations to all of you for the outstanding work and results that we have seen from this very intense week, and I certainly congratulate you all on behalf of the secretary general and all of the ICAO staff,” Martin said.
Minister of Transport and Works, Mike Henry, who had declared the conference open on June 28, also addressed the closing press conference, during which he emphasised that the Government of Jamaica has placed great importance on the conference.
“This evening is not only about Jamaica, it is more about every country that’s visiting here, it’s more about whether you leave here satisfied that you have achieved something by being in Jamaica: That in each country, in exchanging your own developmental process, you would have recognised that the aeronautical outreach is perhaps the most important outreach in the world,” he stated.
He said that as Jamaica moves to build out its multi-modal transportation system, with the aim of being a global transportation hub, every regional carrier would stand to benefit from the expansion.