This is with reference to the news story “Jumbo civil aviation team flying to Canada on a ‘fun trip’” (THT, September 23, Page 1).

The news story has drawn serious attention of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN). I would like to clarify the matter as follows: As a signatory State of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, 1994, Nepal is obliged to participate in ICAO, held triennially.

It is being participated in by its 191 member states and other international aviation agencies and organizations spread across the globe. During the assembly session, members of the ICAO Council are elected and various burning issues of mutual concerns relating to civil aviation are discussed and agreed upon through voting by each member state, including Nepal.

Like many other member states, Nepal has been participating in the assembly on a regular basis since it joined the ICAO. It has also been an inherent practice that many other pace-setting, milestone events organised by ICAO have been participated in by Nepali delegates.

The assembly is thus being attended by state nominated delegates headed by honourable Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation.

As officially approved by ICAO, Nepal is going to present three working papers and one information paper together with an official statement by the honourable minister in this 39th assembly session.

The civil aviation sector has been tirelessly resilient in resolving serious safety issues raised by ICAO and European Union in recent times, including deficiencies identified by ICAO during its validation mission in July 2013.

In support of our efforts, currently, ICAO has extended its technical support by deploying three experts in the deficient areas of Flight Operations, Airworthiness and Personnel Lincensing.

It is gratifying to note that with all these safety strengthening efforts, Nepal has now been very close to attaining the global pace of compliance with ICAO safety standards and associated practices.

With these efforts on, not only will our level of compliance increase but also our status of compliance surpass the global average in the forthcoming ICAO validation mission.

Rajan Pokhrel, Dy DG, CAAN

Clarification

This is with reference to the news story “Jumbo civil aviation team flying to Canada on a ‘fun trip” (THT, September 23, Page 1).

I would like to clarify that conference in Montreal is a three-yearly event, where every delegate will have a chance to interact as well as get information from paper presentations by various experts on all matters related to the civil aviation sector.

For instance, the main theme of the conference is “No Country Left Behind”, which obviously focuses countries like Nepal.

Sugat Ratna Kansakar, MD, NAC