RAWALPINDI: Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan has said that the visit by a team of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to Pakistan has been postponed owing to the coronavirus pandemic situation.

Talking to the media at his public secretariat here on Saturday, the minister said the ICAO team was to visit Pakistan from July 5 to 15, but it was expected to come in September/October.

“We have offered the ICAO to share the data concerned and other required things online,” Mr Sarwar said. Later, the ICAO decided to postpone the audit because the Covid-19 situation did not improve as initially expected.

However, the Civil Aviation Authority had urged the ICAO not to postpone the visit as the Pakis­tani team would be vaccinated against Covid-19 and its team would be provided with a better atmosphere during its visit to Pakistan.

The ICAO team, which comprised citizens of different nationalities, had been assured that all of the CAA officials coordinating with them during their visit would be vaccinated against Covid-19.

According to an aviation expert, the ICAO’s Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme aims to promote global aviation safety through regular audits of ICAO member states to determine their ability to maintain safety oversight systems. A CAA spokesman said it was a regulatory audit by the ICAO in which licensing, implementation of safety-related standards or recommended practices and airworthiness are assessed.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2021