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ICAO and WCO announced they have formed a joint "Technical Experts Group on Air Cargo Security" to analyze issues including electronic advance data on shipments, information sharing and risk management.

This ICAO press release can be accessed at:http://www2.icao.int/en/NewsRoom/Lists/News/Attachments/36/PIO.04.11.FIINAL.EN.pdf

ICAO further announced the Adoption of a roadmap by 14 ICAO Member States to “further protect global air transport from terrorist and other security threats”. This press release can be accessed at: http://www2.icao.int/en/NewsRoom/Lists/News/Attachments/32/EN.pdf

The newsletter includes industry comments on a “single worldwide airfreight security protocol” at the recent IATA World Cargo Symposium in Istanbul.

ICAO and WCO Cooperation - In an interview with Air Transport World (ATW) last week, ICAO Secretary General Raymond Benjamin noted that securing supply chains is:"a customs issue. The goods that are being transported are moving by a variety of means. You have cargo on the highway, and then it goes on ships [and on aircraft]. So we have to look at a comprehensive way llip; of building a security regime." [reported by ATW] This could definitely be considered a “new approach” from ICAO.

In another comment reported by ATW ICAO Aviation Security Branch Chief Jim Marriott added, "We are working very closely with the World Customs Organization in no small part because the world's customs system has increasingly provided for electronic data interchange … There may very well be rich opportunities to mine that information to find cargo that is higher risk and in need of higher scrutiny."

One objective of the proposed cooperation is to reduce the operational and financial impact of security measures by reducing or eliminating duplication in systems and processes, while enhancing synergies.

The heads of the two organizations stressed that “……the end result will be a more effective and efficient response to current as well as new and emerging threats to the security of the global trade supply chain, a critical element of the world economy”

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