Kathmandu, August 18

Being the host country, Nepal is preparing to make presentations about the growing air traffic issues of the Asia-Pacific region on the occasion of the 56th Director Generals of Civil Aviation (DGCA) conference.

As per the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), two papers regarding growing traffic and air navigation issues along with one review paper regarding safety management will be presented at the conference by Nepal. Starting from Monday the event will continue till August 23.

CAAN will make a presentation titled ‘Constraints in Safety Oversight to Cope Growing Aviation Activities’ regarding current status of air traffic in Asia-Pacific region along with steps to be taken to address this issue in the future, said Rajan Pokhrel, director general of CAAN. Likewise, CAAN will also make a presentation titled ‘Need of Mandatory Provision for ANS Certification for Effective and Efficient Delivery of Air Navigation Services’, which will deal with the current status and future steps to be taken for air navigation sector.

“The host country has to make a presentation about the theme of the conference, so we are going to present these papers that will include the issues of Nepal as well,” Pokhrel said. Nepal is hosting the DGCA conference for the third time which is being organised this year with the theme ‘Harmonising Efforts to Meet the Challenges of Capacity Constraints’.

Prior to this, the conference was held in Nepal in 1976 and in 1998. Organising a press meet today, CAAN informed that around 400 high-level delegates from 43 countries are participating in the five-day event that has 12 major agendas

for discussion.

“This is probably the first event being hosted in Nepal related to the aviation sector that will be participated by around 400 high-level delegates from different countries,” Pokhrel said. “Prior to this year’s conference, no host country had received such a high number of delegates. We are very hopeful about the event being successful as in the past.”

Director generals of civil aviation of 43 countries will participate in the event this year. Similarly, chief of civil aviation regulatory body of the European Union, the United States, United Kingdom and France will be participating in the event. Likewise, Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, president of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Council and Arun Mishra, director of Asia-Pacific region of ICAO along with other representatives will be participating in the event.

As per Pokhrel, conclusions of the event will be presented during the annual assembly of ICAO that is going to be held in October. CAAN will also hand over the flag of ICAO that was carried to Mount Everest this spring season to mark the 75th anniversary of ICAO to ICAO council president, he added.