Brazil and ICAO

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) was founded on December 7,1944, with the signing of the Chicago Convention. It is a United Nations specialized agency with the prime objective of developing principles and techniques of international air navigation and of overseeing the organization and progress of air transport in order to promote safety, efficiency, economy and development in the sector.

Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, and with offices on all continents, ICAO has specific technical staff and advisory bodies in which the civil aviation authorities of its member states and several interested bodies, such as profesional or trade associations, operate. The organization currently has 193 member countries

ICAO approves standards and recommended practices for international civil aviation which define the sector’s regularoty framework of its Member States and the operation of their respective civil aviation authorities.  Through these norms and complementary policies, audits, and strategic development efforts, the global network of air transport can operate nearly 100 thousand flights per day in a safe and orderly manner.

Brazil is a founding member of ICAO and, since the organization’s inception, it has also been a member of the ICAO Council Group I, a group aimed at countries with major importance in the international air transport. The country has actively taken part in different committees, panels and consultant groups  and is currently a member of ICAO Council's Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART) . A number of Brazilian nationals participate in the Secretariat of ICAO, including at the leadership level.  A representative from Brazil has been re-elected to the Air Navigation Commission (ANC), the main advisory body of the ICAO Council on technical aviation matters, drafting and approval of SARPs and their inclusion in the Annexes to the Chicago Convention. Since 2018, the post of Director of ICAO´s South American Regional Office, established in Lima-Peru, has been held by a Brazilian national.  

As one of the world’s largest civil aviation markets, Brazil plays a leading role in the ICAO discussions, in view of the significance of civil aviation for Brazil and of Brazil for the international civil aviation, in addition to strong symbolic ties that we have with the history of aviation. 

Brazil has a Permanent Delegation to the ICAO Council, headed by a representeative of its Ministry of Foreign Affairs and permanently advised by the Air Force Command, by the Nacional Civil Aviation Agency, and by the Federal Police Department.