ICAO signs agreement with Canada

   The International Civil Aviation Organization has signed a new agreement with Canada to keep the agency in its Montreal home through November 2036. The current agreement, signed in 1996, would have expired in 2016.
   “ICAO is very grateful to Canada and the local Quebec and Montreal governments for their continuing efforts to facilitate the work of our organization and its diplomatic missions,” ICAO’s secretary general, Raymond Benjamin, said in a statement. “Montreal is the third most influential aerospace metropolis in the world and has served as a natural home to ICAO for well over 60 years.”
   In April, Qatar made an offer to become the permanent home of ICAO starting in 2016. The offer, according to ICAO’s rules, would have been considered by the organization’s 191 member states at the group’s next assembly on Sept. 24. Moving the organization to Qatar would have required a three-fifths vote. Qatar officially withdrew its bid on May 24.
   “Montreal has been our home for many decades,” Benjamin said at the time. “While the offer to move us to Doha was extremely generous, ICAO is also very pleased to continue its global mission with the support and cooperation of the Canadian and local governments who have hosted our headquarters for so many years now.” – Jon Ross