KINGSTON (JIS) -- Minister of Transport and Mining, Hon. Mike Henry, has commended the Caribbean Aviation Safety and Security Oversight System (CASSOS) for signing an agreement that will facilitate regional cooperation in aviation. CASSOS, which is currently chaired by Jamaica through the Director General of the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA), Mr. Nari Williams Singh, recently signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) with the Central American Cooperation for Air Navigation Services (COCESNA).
Speaking at the opening session of the 18th Meeting of the CASSOS Board of Directors on June 1, the Minster said the agreement laid an important foundation for the region.
“The establishment of the MOC has provided an effective instrument for ensuring closer cooperation between CASSOS and COCESNA in the critical areas of aviation safety and security, air navigation and capacity and efficiency, air transport, environmental protection, technical assistance and cooperation,” he said.
The Minister pointed out that the MOC will assist the region to advance common targets set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) for a harmonized, interoperable and uniformly safe global air industry.
“It also underpins development, logistics and other benefits to Jamaica and each member state represented here today,” Mr. Henry added.
He said that air travel is the most efficient, rapid and statistically safe transportation network available to mankind and that the CASSOS Board meeting plays a critical role in regional collaboration.
“When you achieve the objectives of ICAO’s Global Air Navigation Plan and the Global Aviation Safety Plan, you are adding immense value to civil aviation at its best,” the Minister told the delegates.
Members of CASSOS are civil aviation authorities in Barbados, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). The OECS represent nine countries in that area.