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Meeting Summary
Foreword The meeting was presided by Capt. Merlin Preuss Director General, Civil Aviation for Canada. The GEASA/1 Agenda is included within this Meeting Summary as Appendix A. Facilities for English and Spanish interpretation were available throughout the meeting.
Attendance The first meeting of the GEASA was held under the Chairmanship of Canada in the person of the Director General Civil Aviation on 4-5 April, 2002 in Cancùn, Mexico. Twenty-three (23) participants from 9 countries and 4 international organizations attended the meeting. Countries present were Suriname (1), Jamaica (2), Uruguay (2), Colombia (1), Guatemala (5), Costa Rica (1), Mexico (1), the United States (4) and Canada (3). The international institutions present were ICAO (1), ACSA - the Central American Safety Oversight Agency (1), the Inter-American Development Bank (1) and the WHTI Executive Committee (1). A detailed list of the names, titles and contact information for all attendees is included in Appendix B to this Meeting Summary.
Presentation by the WHTI Executive Committee In order to set the stage for discussions on the role and Terms of Reference of GEASA, Elizabeth Leiva representing the Chairman of the WHTI Executive Committee delivered a presentation detailing the role of WHTI and the Ministerial events that led to the creation of GEASA. The presentation established GEASA' accountability to WHTI Ministers.
Review of the GEASA Terms of Reference and its associated Appendix A: Draft Civil Aviation Logic Model GEASA/1 reviewed and refined the proposed terms of reference drafted by Canada. Editorial changes were adopted to: 1) Reflect an action-oriented approach. GEASA/1 concurred that the GEASA should proceed with activities and initiatives where it has the influence, authority and resources to do so. Ministerial involvement will be solicited when high-level involvement is required to support operational level initiative and activities; 2) Emphasize the complementary nature of GEASA in relation to the work of other international agencies and existing aviation safety and security projects and initiatives. GEASA/1 was unanimous in that avoiding duplication of effort was an important consideration; and 3) Establish the philosophy that GEASA as a group can create synergy in the enhancement promotion of aviation safety and security activities in the Region. GEASA/1 reviewed the Draft Civil Aviation Logic Model proposed as Appendix A to the Terms of Reference. GEASA/1 agreed to consider the Logic Model as a Template by which projects being reviewed and supported by GEASA can be documented. The Template can be used to identify the civil aviation safety oversight outputs impacted by projects, their indicators and expected immediate, intermediate and ultimate outcomes. ACTION: CANADA, acting as Secretariat for GEASA volunteered to make the agreed upon changes to the Terms of Reference and its Appendix A and, to circulate the changes to GEASA/1 attendees in conjunction with the Draft Meeting Summary. Canada also volunteered to work with the representative from Costa Rica to refine the Spanish versions in areas where the translation may not reflect the intent of the English text. ACTION: Canada agreed to study the issue of criteria for assessing whether a project is of High, Moderate or Low impact on aviation safety and security. The results of this project will serve to define the requirements included in bullet #2 of item 3 under TASKING in the GEASA Terms of Reference. The text of the GEASA Terms of Reference is included in this Meeting Summary as Appendix C.
Presentations by Participant 1) Presentation by Ms. Asako Yamamoto representing the Multi-Lateral Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank that has funds currently available for security projects. Ms. Yamamoto's presentation focused on a description of the US$10 Million Line of Activity for security projects provided for in the Multi-Lateral Fund managed by the Inter-American Development Bank and provided an update on WHTI countries that have already made applications. GEASA/1 participants were encouraged to consider the Multi-Lateral Fund as a source of money for security projects in their country. The resulting discussion relating to this presentation immediately afterward and later during the meeting touched on a) the possibility of a safety Line of Activity within the Multi-Lateral Fund, b) the likelihood of the limited awareness of fund managers and members of donor committees on civil aviation safety and security issues and c) the desirability of GEASA creating a fund of its own and/or being recognized as an executing agency by donor organizations. ACTION: CANADA, acting as Secretariat for GEASA agreed to make presentations specifically to the IDB to pursue the creation of an aviation safety Line of Activity within the Multi-Lateral Fund and to explore the requirement for GEASA to obtain "executing agency" status within the IDB. ACTION: CANADA, acting as Secretariat for GEASA agreed to make similar presentations to other potential funding institutions including but not limited to the World Bank, the Organization of American States (OAS), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Caribbean Development Bank, WHTI Governments, the ICAO International Financial Facility for Aviation Safety (IFFAS), and manufacturers such as Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier and Embraer. ACTION: URUGUAY agreed to promote the efforts of GEASA directly with Chairman of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) who is from Uruguay. ACTION: ALL have agreed to promote the efforts of GEASA both within and outside their national civil aviation community. ACTION: ALL have agreed to explore all potential funding sources for aviation projects within their national civil aviation community. 2) Presentation by Mr. Raymond Ybarra, ICAO Regional Director North American, Central American and Caribbean Office. Mr. Ybarra provided information relating to:
Mr. Ybarra's presentation reemphasized ICAO's critical role in the on-going enhancement of civil aviation safety and security and Mr. Ybarra graphically displayed the impacts of compliance to International Standards and Recommended Practices on accident/incident rates within the WHTI Region using data from the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program relating to Personnel Licensing, Airworthiness and Aircraft Operations. Comparisons feature compliance and accident/incident rate data at the time of the original audit and similar data from after audit follow-up visits when corrective actions were to have been implemented. Data shows a clear link between compliance to international standards and accident/incident rates. From the GEASA perspective such a link can serve as a potentially valuable supporting argument for many types of projects. 3) Presentation by Mr. Miguel Ramos, Member of the Council of ICAO representing Costa Rica and Mr. Rodrigo Brenes representing the Director General of ACSA - the Central American Safety Oversight Agency, on the management of civil aviation in Central America. The combined presentation by Mr. Ramos and Mr. Brenes was in two parts. The first focused on the challenges of providing consistent aviation safety oversight in smaller countries and the frustrations of resource-constrained managers when new technologies and safety management tools are beyond their grasp. The second part described the successful development and implementation of a Central American Civil Aviation Safety Organization. This successful project can be used as an example for other regions considering safety oversight on a more regional basis, which sets the stage for the next presentation from a Caribbean State where such initiative is being considered. 4) Presentation by Lt. Col. Oscar Derby, Deputy Director General Civil Aviation for Jamaica on the management of civil aviation in the Caribbean. Mr. Derby's presentation also focused on the resource challenges of providing consistent aviation safety oversight in smaller countries and in particular the Caribbean Region. These challenges have led many neighboring countries to consider providing elements of safety oversight on a multi-lateral as opposed to a national basis. Following these two presentations, the chairman asked participants on how GEASA could facilitate or support such projects to develop mechanisms for the safety oversight on a regional basis. ACTION: GEASA through the WHTI Executive Committee will advise Ministers that it fully supports safety oversight mechanisms on a regional basis as an efficient use of limited resources and as a potential enhancement to the safety of civil aviation. 5) Presentation by Mr. Robert Shuter, Director International Aviation for Transport Canada on the history and activities of the North American Aviation Trilateral (NAAT) Mr. Shuter's presentation focused on the success of Mexico, the United States and Canada in developing a framework to pursue harmonization of regulations and standards and the exchange of technical information to enhance safety and security oversight of all three countries. This too is an example of how countries working together can enhance aviation safety.
Roundtable discussions To focus the roundtable discussions the chair requested that participants put forth examples of projects that GEASA support could in some way facilitate. Projects briefly identified were:
The resulting discussion on the approach that GEASA could take to promote support/obtain funding for such projects led to the conclusion that the combined wisdom of the senior aviation experts and officials forming GEASA can serve to add credibility and accountability (project audit framework) to project proposals. The added credibility and accountability associated with "GEASA" projects may yield favorable consideration from many of the multitude of institutions that may or may not currently fund aviation safety and security projects. These elements are deemed potentially valuable in light of the perception of limited aviation awareness within the donor committees of these institutions. To be in a position, a number of action items were identified for GEASA to be in position to fulfill this role. ACTION: The UNITED STATES agreed to study the issue of criteria for qualifying projects as GEASA projects. The results of this project will serve to define the requirements included in bullet #3 of item 4 under TASKING in the GEASA Terms of Reference. ACTION: Canada, acting as Secretariat for GEASA agreed to develop GEASA administrative procedures for meetings, on-going work and consultation between meetings, and on the evaluation of projects. In addition to the potential soft role for GEASA, GEASA/1 participants requested that GEASA consider the possibility of GEASA obtaining sufficient status allowing it to manage its own fund for aviation safety and security projects. ACTION: Canada, acting as Secretariat for GEASA agreed to study the legal requirements to be able to create and manage its own funding mechanism. This action is an extension to the Action Item for Canada relating to the requirements of obtaining "executing agency" status with the IDB. ACTION: ALL have been asked to provide, if possible, detailed project descriptions so that GEASA can begin its work of considering projects. GEASA project prioritization was discussed and it was concluded that prioritization of projects will practically be determined by the potential contributors to the projects.
Other Business In addition to the GEASA role to facilitate civil aviation safety and security projects, it was recognized that GEASA could also have a complementary role in the exchange of technical aviation safety and security information, awareness material and training aids. ACTION: Canada, acting as Secretariat for GEASA, volunteered to work with WHTI to create a GEASA component to the WHTI web site. The site would contain the GEASA Terms of Reference, Meeting Summaries and links to information of relevance to GEASA activities such as technical aviation safety and security information, awareness material and training aids. In the spirit of exchange of technical information, participants volunteered for a few specific exchanges made relevant by earlier discussions. ACTION: Jamaica volunteered to provide Suriname with information relating to its recent RADAR implementation project to facilitate the development of a similar project in Suriname. ACTION: Jamaica volunteered to provide Colombia with information relating to its recent efforts relating to ATC Quality Assurance. ACTION: Costa Rica and ACSA have volunteered to provide to Jamaica, through GEASA a documented history of the successful development of ACSA, including relevant milestones and challenges. This information can potentially serve to facilitate the development of a similar concept under study in parts of the Caribbean.
Next Meeting GEASA/1 set the dates for the next meeting at 24-25 October 2002. Costa Rica and Jamaica have been proposed as potential sites. The precise location is pending local consultation in these two countries.
Merlin Preuss April 12, 2002 |
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