Front Page: Traficom
Front Page: Traficom
Menu

Finland elected as member of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation

Today, 28 September 2019, Finland was elected as member of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation, ICAO, for the term of 2019–2021. The Council exercises the highest decision-making power of the organisation and plays an important role in global aviation solutions. The ICAO General Assembly is currently being held in Montreal, Canada.

Samuli Vuokila
Samuli Vuokila

Finland's representative in the Council will be Samuli Vuokila, an official of the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency, Traficom, with a long experience of ICAO. Vuokila has worked as a flight captain. For the past three years he has served as deputy representative of the Nordic Cooperation Group in the ICAO Council. 

“The result of the election is important for Finland and provides a great opportunity to develop ICAO’s activities. The environmental issues of aviation and the introduction of new technologies are of particular importance to us, and we can now more actively contribute to increasing the role of ICAO in solving international aviation challenges,” says Minister of Transport and Communications Sanna Marin.

On 28 September, the ICAO General Assembly elected representatives from its Member States to the ICAO Council for the term 2019–2021. Finland was elected as one of the 36 members of the Council.

"The role of ICAO is very important in international civil aviation. I am proud to work for promoting safe and sustainable air transport,” says Vuokila.

“Finland's election to the ICAO Council comes at a very important period. The agenda will include climate issues, cyber security in aviation and introduction of new technologies and innovations. ICAO will be required to take a much more dynamic approach. It is a significant role and we play an active part in it,” says Pekka Henttu, Director General of Civil Aviation at the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency, Traficom.

In accordance with the principles of Nordic cooperation, other so-called NORDICAO countries, that is the Nordic countries, Estonia and Latvia, supported the candidate, which this time in the round of rotation was Finland. The principles of the NORDICAO countries, topical themes and Vuokila's views on ICAO can be found in the joint publication of the countries: https://issuu.com/nordicao/docs/nordicaomagazine (External link).

From 24 September to 4 October 2019, the ICAO General Assembly brings together 170 states and a number of international organisations. News from the Assembly can be followed on social media using the hashtag #ICAOA40.

Inquiries:

Mikael Nyberg, High-Level Representative for the Ministry's transport and communications policy, Ministry of Transport and Communications, +358 40 837 8794, mikael.nyberg(at)lvm.fi

Samuli Vuokila, Chief Adviser, tel. +1 514-794-1206, svuokila(at)icao.int, samuli.vuokila(at)traficom.fi

Pekka Henttu, Director General of Civil Aviation, Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom, tel. +358 29 5346 031, pekka.henttu(at)traficom.fi, Twitter @PekkaHenttu

40th Assembly of ICAO (External link)