- Mr. Tao Ma, the Regional Director of ICAO-Asia Pacific
- Distinguished delegates from Member States
- Representatives of partner agencies
- Ladies and gentlemen
Good morning.
This gathering is very timely.
As the aviation and public health sectors continue to deepen their partnership, the task before us is clear:
safeguard global connectivity, while strengthening our collective capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to public health threats.
The Asia-Pacific region is among the world's busiest aviation corridors.
It is a fast-growing aviation market, connecting billions of people, and driving trade, tourism, growth, and development.
But just as easily as people and trade cross borders, so too do diseases and health threats.
As air travel grows, strengthening health security in the aviation sector is both a public health imperative and essential to resilient, sustainable air transport.
COVID-19 showed us how closely aviation and public health are intertwined.
While aviation sustained humanitarian operations and carried critical supplies, the pandemic also exposed how vulnerable global mobility is to public health emergencies.
Importantly, it also showed us that preparedness cannot be built during a crisis.
It must be established, tested, and strengthened before the next one arrives.
In the years since, countries have made significant progress.
Many have strengthened core capacities under the 2005 International Health Regulations, enhanced surveillance, improved preparedness and response at points of entry, and reinforced multisectoral coordination.
However, challenges remain.
Our resilience continues to be tested by emerging infectious diseases, zoonotic threats, climate-related hazards, chemical incidents, and other all-hazard emergencies.
The 2024 amendments to the International Health Regulations, now in force, offer an important opportunity to strengthen national and international capacities further.
Their successful implementation will require ongoing collaboration among health authorities, civil aviation authorities, airport operators, airlines, border agencies, and many other stakeholders.
WHO has deepened its partnership with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) through a Memorandum of Understanding, a strategic framework for coordinated global, regional, and national action.
Together, we are harmonizing public health and aviation policies, and developing joint technical guidance.
We are strengthening preparedness and response capacities at points of entry and supporting simulation exercises and training.
We are promoting evidence-based risk assessment and enabling the management of public health events without disrupting international air connectivity.
This is what shared commitment looks like: health security and aviation resilience advancing together, through practical multisectoral action.
For the WHO South-East Asia Region, strengthening preparedness and readiness at points of entry is a strategic priority.
This is aligned with our Banyan Framework for Health and Wellbeing.
Strengthened health security, through emergency preparedness, early detection, and rapid response across borders, is one of the Framework’s four priorities.
Its emphasis on stronger cross-border coordination, integrated surveillance, and faster containment speaks directly to the role of airports and other points of entry.
Partnerships are essential.
The challenges are complex, interconnected, and transboundary. No one sector or country can address them alone.
Our collective success will depend on our cooperation and coordination.
I hope that you will let that spirit of partnership guide you over the next two days.
I encourage you to share your experience and insights, to identify practical solutions, and strengthen collaboration.
In a world with fewer borders than ever, may our coordination travel faster and further than the threats we are working to stop.
Thank you.