MONTRÉAL/ RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s twin new initiatives for environmental protection were welcomed last week by the President of the ICAO Council Salvatore Sciacchitano, and by ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu.

During virtual meetings with Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman and its Minister of Transport Eng. Saleh Bin Nasser Al Jasser, Sciacchitano and Liu learned how the government of Saudi Arabia aims to enhance environmental protection nationally and in the Middle East region more generally “by clearly defining an ambitious roadmap that rallies the region and significantly contributes to achieving global targets in confronting climate change.”

“Environmental sustainability and responsibility are key to the twin and mutually dependent objectives of addressing climate change and assuring the sustainable recovery of the global civil aviation network,” remarked Sciacchitano. “The initiatives announced by Saudi Arabia will contribute key momentum to ensuring that aviation builds back better in the region, and will help inspire progress worldwide.”

“Environmental protection is a strategic objective for ICAO, with states having agreed to both a global climate neutral growth objective and a range of tools and mechanisms for achieving this,” Dr. Liu further emphasized.

Through their recent interactions at ICAO, governments have stressed the importance of a greener, more sustainable recovery of the air transport sector post pandemic, highlighting the ongoing role of aviation connectivity in countries’ achievement of 15 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. — SG