More than 330 delegates from 13 international organizations, 28 airlines, 27 airport authorities, and many private companies associated with the air cargo industry gathered in Zhengzhou, Henan Province of the P.R. of China for the ICAO Air Cargo Development Forum, held on 2-5 September 2014. The Forum was organized by ICAO, a key WCO partner in the air cargo security and facilitation domain, in partnership with Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) and the People’s Government of Henan Province, with a view to addressing key issues related to the air cargo industry, and gain better understanding of the issues and challenges faced by the air cargo transport for its sustainable development. Mr. Zhu Gaozhang, Director of the WCO Compliance and Facilitation Directorate, and Mr. Kazunari Igarashi, Head of the WCO ROCB A/P, participated in the Forum as resource speakers.

The Forum was opened with a series of remarks by representatives of key stakeholders, including Mayor of the city of Zhengzhou, Director General of the Airports Council International (ACI World), President of the ICAO Council, and the WCO. While participating in a panel discussion on a new regulatory framework for international air cargo, Mr. Zhu described WCO instruments and initiatives, including the Revised Kyoto Convention, SAFE Framework, ICT guidelines, Data Model-based and risk management–based Single Window Compendium, Immediate Cargo Release Guidelines, Recommendation on dematerialization of Supplementary Documents for Customs Clearance, and the Coordinated Border Management Compendium, all of which support air cargo supply chain security and facilitation.

The WCO emphasized its cooperation with other partner international and regional organizations and industry through such platforms as the ICAO-WCO Joint Conferences, the ICAO-WCO Joint Working group on Advance Cargo Information and Technical Experts Group on Air Cargo Security. A number of speakers and participants underlined the need for further strengthening collaboration between ICAO and the WCO towards harmonization and standardization of the regulatory requirements while paying due attention to contributing to liberalization of the aviation logistics. At the same time, the participants to the Forum re-affirmed the value of, and significant progress of the proactive actions made jointly by the WCO and ICAO as well as industry representatives in the wake of the Yemen incident in October 2010 and convinced with the need for further collective actions and efforts to be pursued among all parties concerned with a view to best contending with challenges associated with international aviation supply chain.