The eighth regional seminar on aviation security (AVSEC) organized by the ICAO European/North Atlantic Bureau for the Eastern, Central Asian, Balkan and Baltic states of ICAO European region took place in Riga (Latvia) at the headquarters of "Air Baltic Corporation".

During the seminar, several topics have been raised including establishing a sustainable national surveillance system for aviation security, implementing cybersecurity requirements, and confronting new challenges such as unmanned aerial systems (UAS).

The event was attended by representatives of ICAO, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Switzerland, and the USA.
Kazakhstan was represented by Deputy Director General of Aviation administration of Kazakhstan for Aviation Security Darkhan Espotanov, Director of Aviation Security Department Darkhan Katyshev., Senior Manager on Information and Cyber Security of Aviation Security Department Nurlan Kozhakhmetov and Deputy Chairman of Board Aviation Security of Sary-Arka Airport Gamzat Omashev.

The purpose of the seminar was to discuss all aspects of aviation and cyber security and ICAO standards and recommended practices. During the meeting, the ICAO standards were explained, practical activities were carried out and the participants exchanged knowledge on existing aviation security quality assurance and quality control systems. The cybersecurity expert Nurlan Kozhakhmetov gave a speech on what work is being done in Kazakhstan on cyber security.

Furthermore, the implementation of quality control mechanisms, risks and threats management, corrective actions, the authority of national inspectors and sustainable development of the aviation security system were discussed in the framework of ICAO Annex 17.

The seminar also addressed issues of internal audits. Gamzat Omashev shared his experience on ensuring internal quality control on the example of Sary-Arka airport.

In addition, the participants of the seminar visited the UAV factory in Riga. UAV activity is currently of great importance and has its own impact on the civil aviation industry, has its own way of development in the future, there are also relevant issues of UAV related threats management.

The seminar participants were given recommendations and methods of building capacity, some examples were also demonstrated.