Middle East Civil Aviation Safety Summit

The first Middle East Aviation Safety Summit will work to identify and attain significant enhancements in civil aviation safety measures in the region. The summit will be held at the Abu Dhabi Al Raha Beach Hotel on January 21-22, 2008. 'The purpose of the summit is to develop a prioritized action plan that integrates existing efforts with crucial safety needs. This will involve focus studies of particular challenges facing the industry and identifying the best international practices, maturity models, and practical strategies for achieving them,' said Mohammed Abdullah Al Salami, deputy chairman, director general of the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA). Attendees will include: Taieb Sherif, secretary general of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO); William Voss, president and CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation; Edward Stimpson, Chairman of the Flight Safety Foundation, James Filippatos, director of international aviation of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); and Claude Probst, director of regulations of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The Summit signals a new era of cooperation between aviation operators and regulators around the world in an effort to improve the safety of global civil aviation.