The D-8 Secretary-General, Ambassador Dato’ Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari, paid a working visit to the Acting Director General of Civil Aviation Authority of Turkey, Mr. Bahri Kesici, at the latter’s office in Ankara on 6th of February, 2018. 

The Secretary-General expressed delight that Civil Aviation has been one of the success stories of the Organization, given the achievements recorded so far and congratulated the Turkish Civil Aviation Directorate for its contributions. Ambassador Ku Jaafar also briefed the Acting Director General about his vision for the Organization.

In response, Mr. Kesici felicitated with Ambassador Ku Jaafar for his appointment as the new Secretary-General and looked forward to working with him closely. The Acting Director General informed that based on the report of the Airport Council International, ?stanbul (Atatürk) and Ankara (Esenbo?a) airports have recorded unprecedented passenger traffic last year. He also mentioned that some of the D-8 Member States have bilateral air services agreements and these can be transformed into multilateral.

Regarding the 11th DGCA Meeting held in Islamabad, Pakistan in November 2017, the Secretary-General exchanged views with the Acting Director General on the commitments made by Turkey to host workshops and arrange training programs for the benefit of D-8 Member States, namely Workshop on Regulatory Framework for Unnamed Ariel Vehicle (UAS)/Drones, Workshop on Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA), experience sharing on ICAO audit and exchange of instructors in various disciplines of aviation. Mr. Kesici informed that the dates of the Workshops and Training Programs will be conveyed to the Secretariat soon.  He also intimated the Secretary-General that the Civil Aviation Training Academy will soon be operational and this will boost cooperation among D-8 Member States in Civil Aviation in the fields of training and capacity building as well as data collection and analysis. Furthermore, he assured of the readiness of Turkey to encourage and support the growth of General Aviation in D-8 Member States by hosting seminar/workshop to address issues of regulatory reforms and policy initiatives. Assistance will also be provided by Turkey in the area of aircraft maintenance services.