The Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan in the framework of the execution of standard 8.19 of Annex 9 of ICAO – “Facilitation”, chaired by the Deputy Chairman of Civil Aviation Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan Ardak Utepov with the support of Commission secretary Director of Facilitation department in AAK – Nurzhan Malayev, held a regular meeting of the Interdepartmental Commission on Facilitation for International Transportation.

The meeting was attended by representatives of Civil Aviation Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Border Service of the National Security Committee, Ministry of Healthcare, Ministry for Emergency Situations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, airports of Astana, Almaty, Atyrau, Shymkent, as well as representatives of airlines of Air Astana, SCAT and Qazaq Air. It should be noted that due to creation of the Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan, as well as changes in the membership of the Commission of certain representatives of ministries, the composition of the Interdepartmental Commission has been updated.

Under ICAO Annex 9 “Facilitation”, Standard 8.19, each Contracting State shall establish a National Facilitation Committee for Air Transportation and where required airport facilitation committees or similar coordinating bodies to coordinate the facilitation work carried out by ministries, agencies and other organizations of the State concerned with or responsible for various aspects of International Civil Aviation, as well as airport and aircraft operators. The purpose of Interdepartmental Commission on Facilitation Program is to fulfil the mandate of the Chicago Convention, which obliges Contracting States to provide for and facilitate to be carried out in respect of aircraft engaged in international traffic as well as their passengers, crew and cargo.

The Director of Facilitation Department N. Malayev mentioned in his report that successful implementation of ICAO standards and recommended practices of Annex 9 requires effective interaction of all stakeholders involved in international flights. It was noted that the interdepartmental commission platform provides an opportunity to discuss not only issues of airport or aircraft operators, but also border and customs services, as well as issues related to the sanitary and epidemiological service.

Thanks to the close cooperation between the Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) for the past two years, the Republic of Kazakhstan has been allocated 12 places free of charge for the training Annex 9 "Facilitation". The free training will be distributed amongst aviation administration staff, border and customs service, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Healthcare, Ministry of Emergency Situations, Air Astana, Scat, Qazaq Air airlines as well as Astana and Almaty cities airports. Upon completion of the training all participants will be issued international certificates.

In addition, participants were informed about the upcoming 18th ICAO Traveller Identification Programme Symposium (TRIP) to be held in 2023 in Turkestan city. It is expected that this event will be attended by representatives of more than 100 foreign countries, ICAO, IATA, ACI, as well as other leading organizations representing modern passenger identification technologies.