Malaysia re-elected to ICAO council

Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai confirmed Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has been re-elected to the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) council, the main decision-making body of the United Nations’ civil aviation arm.

This is Malaysia’s fourth consecutive term on the council after first being elected to represent the Asia Pacific region in 2007.

Malaysia received 129 out of 172 votes cast by eligible voting member states at the ICAO general assembly in Montreal, Canada on Tuesday.

Malaysia’s term in the council will run until 2019.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai hailed Malaysia’s re-election to ICAO and renewed the country’s commitment to drive ICAO’s initiatives in the region.

“We will continue to fulfil the training needs of our global aviation community through our Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme.

“We believe that ensuring safer skies for passengers is of paramount importance and greater international cooperation among all ICAO member nations will see this through to fruition,” Liow said in a statement.

He said one of the key issues Malaysia will continue to work on is to enhance global civil aviation safety and security standards through ICAO.

Earlier, Liow had tweeted: “Malaysia re-elected to the @icao council. Thanks to @MOTMalaysia (Transport Ministry) and MOFA (Foreign Ministry) team for all their hard work."

The ICAO council consists of 36 member states under three categories - states of chief importance in air transport, states which make the largest contribution to the provision of facilities for international civil air navigation and states ensuring geographic representation.

Malaysia joins South Korea in the third category to represent the Asia Pacific region.

Malaysia’s permanent representative in ICAO Datuk Kok Soo Chon said being on the council means Malaysia will be able to push for new international laws for adoption by aviation industries worldwide.

“When we are in the council, we will be able to present working papers and press for the formulation of new laws, such as the real-time tracking of aircraft,” said Kok, who is former Department of Civil Aviation director-general.

The real-time tracking of aircraft resolution, which came into force in March this year, was called by Malaysia after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in 2014.

The proposal requires planes to carry tracking devices that can transmit their location at least once a minute in cases of distress.

Plane operators will have to ensure their flight recorder data is recoverable, while the duration of cockpit voice recordings is being extended from two to 25 hours.

Malaysia is one of only two Southeast Asian countries to be elected to the ICAO this time, with the other being Singapore.

Indonesia failed to make it into the group again, while other countries in the list include the United States, Mexico, Australia, Japan, and India.

Malaysia also recently enjoyed the honour of having its Department of Civil Aviation director-general Datuk Seri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman elected as president of ICAO’s 39th general assembly, which began last Saturday.