The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Traveller Identification Programme (TRIP) Regional Seminar, jointly organized by the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSARG) and the ICAO, opened at the CAD Headquarters on July 11.
Hong Kong is the first city in the Asia-Pacific region to host the TRIP seminar. About 200 representatives from the ICAO and its members worldwide met in Hong Kong from July 11 to July 13 to exchange views on measures and technology in relation to traveler identification management.
Launching the event, the Secretary General of the ICAO, Dr. Fang Liu said that TRIP harmonized the global line of defence in the shared battle to confront international terrorist movements, cross-border crime and many other threats to civil society and international aviation.
"The ICAO TRIP strategy has two primary goals - strengthening states' capacities to establish citizens' identities in a secure and reliable way, and formalizing secure identity into an ICAO-compliant passport or other official travel document," Dr. Liu said.
Dr. Liu's remarks were echoed by the Director-General of Civil Aviation of HKSARG, Mr. Simon Li, who pointed out that the rapid development of the aviation industry in the Asia-Pacific region, including China, demands a holistic, coherent and co-ordinated approach towards traveler identification management.
During the three-day seminar, participants had in-depth discussions and exchanges on various areas of mutual interest including machine-readable travel document standards, specifications and best practices, secure travel document issuance, robust evidence of identity processes, and information-sharing technologies relevant to combatting terrorists.
The fact that the ICAO chose Hong Kong as the first city in the Asia-Pacific region to co-host the ICAO TRIP Regional Seminar highlights Hong Kong’s status as an international and regional aviation hub, and its active role in safeguarding global aviation safety. Hong Kong and France signed a Protocol of Cooperation on Capacity Building and Safety Enhancement in Civil Aviation for countries in the Southeast Asian region late last month. The CAD will continue to work with the ICAO to enhance the capacity for embracing challenges faced by the international aviation industry.
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