ID :
129176
Tue, 06/22/2010 - 14:14
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https://oananews.org//node/129176
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A regional approach offers best solution to address significant gaps still left in global SAR: Al Mansouri
Dubai, June 22, 2010 (WAM)- A regional approach to provide search and rescue services offers the best solution to address the significant gaps still left in global SAR coverage and, further, can save a lot of wasted effort and resources, Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, UAE Minister of Economy and Chairman of the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), said here today.
The minister announced the commitment of the UAE GCAA to the establishment of a Regional Civil Aviation SAR Coordinating Committee to be established in the Gulf, and to propose that it should comprise representatives of all the States and the ICAO Regional Office and, importantly, that it also involve representatives of all the armed forces with responsibilities in the area.
''We in the UAE have strengthened our search and rescue system by cooperating with the Armed Forces and Dubai Police as counterpart Search and Rescue (SAR) providers and have established a rescue coordination centre in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) requirements, equipped with excellent equipment and operated by a professional crew. It has the capability of covering the entire Emirates SRR and even beyond it, the minister said in his opening speech yesterday at the ICAO Global SAR Forum.
The UAE is now in a position of prominence amongst the worldwide community of ICAO Member States and our relationship with ICAO has changed. While we are still reliant on the facilitating and standard setting role of ICAO, the UAE is now in a position to strengthen the organisation that has so much strengthened us - and we are keen to do so.
Thus the UAE has committed to a series of initiatives in cooperation with ICAO that will positively impact the integrity of civil aviation services across the entire 190 Member States. We have become a leading financial contributor to safety, security and environment programmes being administered by ICAO. And we have given particular support to strengthening civil aviation SAR services,'' he told the civil aviation industry meeting.
''This is an appropriate forum for me to make a statement of further intent on the part of the UAE GCAA, that is, that the UAE is intent on advancing the cause of sub-regionalised civil aviation SAR services throughout the Gulf States. A consolidated SAR service in the Gulf, in which all Gulf States will have immediate access to all the sub-region's expertise, facilities and assets, will give optimal protection to survivors of civil aircraft accidents and the greatest assurance of their timely location, rescue and removal to a place of safety.
It is a formal policy of ICAO that States should cooperate in such a shared SAR system, and the UAE is intent on cooperating with both ICAO and our counterpart aviation authorities in all the Gulf States to translate that policy into practice.
''I am therefore taking the opportunity of this Global SAR Forum to announce the commitment of the UAE GCAA to the establishment of a Regional Civil Aviation SAR Coordinating Committee to be established in the Gulf, and to propose that it should comprise representatives of all the States and the ICAO Regional Office and, importantly, that it also involve representatives of all the armed forces with responsibilities in the area.
This is a high goal and one, we know, that will take time to achieve, and only then by gradual, cooperative movement through coordinated steps,'' he said.
''We make that commitment, however, in the belief that in the States moving together in that cooperative process, not only will SAR be strengthened but general goodwill and mutual benefit will result throughout the Gulf and, ultimately, to all the people of the region. We set out on this venture therefore, in positive anticipation of both the destination and the journey. This is both an operational and a humanitarian exercise with prospect of benefits across a broad front at every phase of its development,'' he added. – Emirates News Agency, WAM
The minister announced the commitment of the UAE GCAA to the establishment of a Regional Civil Aviation SAR Coordinating Committee to be established in the Gulf, and to propose that it should comprise representatives of all the States and the ICAO Regional Office and, importantly, that it also involve representatives of all the armed forces with responsibilities in the area.
''We in the UAE have strengthened our search and rescue system by cooperating with the Armed Forces and Dubai Police as counterpart Search and Rescue (SAR) providers and have established a rescue coordination centre in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) requirements, equipped with excellent equipment and operated by a professional crew. It has the capability of covering the entire Emirates SRR and even beyond it, the minister said in his opening speech yesterday at the ICAO Global SAR Forum.
The UAE is now in a position of prominence amongst the worldwide community of ICAO Member States and our relationship with ICAO has changed. While we are still reliant on the facilitating and standard setting role of ICAO, the UAE is now in a position to strengthen the organisation that has so much strengthened us - and we are keen to do so.
Thus the UAE has committed to a series of initiatives in cooperation with ICAO that will positively impact the integrity of civil aviation services across the entire 190 Member States. We have become a leading financial contributor to safety, security and environment programmes being administered by ICAO. And we have given particular support to strengthening civil aviation SAR services,'' he told the civil aviation industry meeting.
''This is an appropriate forum for me to make a statement of further intent on the part of the UAE GCAA, that is, that the UAE is intent on advancing the cause of sub-regionalised civil aviation SAR services throughout the Gulf States. A consolidated SAR service in the Gulf, in which all Gulf States will have immediate access to all the sub-region's expertise, facilities and assets, will give optimal protection to survivors of civil aircraft accidents and the greatest assurance of their timely location, rescue and removal to a place of safety.
It is a formal policy of ICAO that States should cooperate in such a shared SAR system, and the UAE is intent on cooperating with both ICAO and our counterpart aviation authorities in all the Gulf States to translate that policy into practice.
''I am therefore taking the opportunity of this Global SAR Forum to announce the commitment of the UAE GCAA to the establishment of a Regional Civil Aviation SAR Coordinating Committee to be established in the Gulf, and to propose that it should comprise representatives of all the States and the ICAO Regional Office and, importantly, that it also involve representatives of all the armed forces with responsibilities in the area.
This is a high goal and one, we know, that will take time to achieve, and only then by gradual, cooperative movement through coordinated steps,'' he said.
''We make that commitment, however, in the belief that in the States moving together in that cooperative process, not only will SAR be strengthened but general goodwill and mutual benefit will result throughout the Gulf and, ultimately, to all the people of the region. We set out on this venture therefore, in positive anticipation of both the destination and the journey. This is both an operational and a humanitarian exercise with prospect of benefits across a broad front at every phase of its development,'' he added. – Emirates News Agency, WAM
