Recognizing that the safety and efficiency of air navigation rely on continuous skill upgrades for aviation personnel, ICAO and the Government of Singapore have signed a three-year extension to the Developing Countries Training Programme (DCTP).

The new agreement will permit the DCTP to continue augmenting the capabilities of aviation professionals in lesser developed countries, thereby improving the States’ overall levels of air connectivity through improved ICAO compliance. A projected 340 training professionals are expected to benefit from the DCTP’s extension, which will be implemented through the ICAO Technical Cooperation Bureau.

The extension was formalized on the sidelines of the Changi Aviation Summit by ICAO Council President Salvatore Sciacchitano, and His Excellency S Iswaran, Singapore’s Minister of Transport and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations.

The programme will award fellowships to participants from countries most in need of assistance in specific areas of training, categories which ICAO and the Government of Singapore will jointly identify. The new DCTP courses will be developed jointly by ICAO and the training arm of Singapore’s Civil Aviation Authority, the Singapore Aviation Academy, and the framework of the ICAO TRAINAIR PLUS Programme will support the learning activities undertaken by the fellowship recipients.

“As global aviation begins its recovery from the impacts of the pandemic, enhancing ICAO compliance is key to ensuring air connectivity is able to act as a safe and effective catalyst for sustainable recovery and development, nationally and globally,” said Sciacchitano.  “The renewal of this cooperation between ICAO and Singapore is very important to this objective, and to our broader goals to enhance the resilience of the global flight network in the face of future catastrophic events.”