GCAA confirms readiness of UAE’s airports to welcome COP28 guests

Saif Al Suwaidi, Director-General of the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), said that the country’s airports are ready to receive the guests of COP28, which will take place at Expo City Dubai from 30th November to 12th December, 2023.

Al Suwaidi told the Emirates News Agency (WAM) that the GCAA and the country’s aviation sector are important hosts of this global event, stressing the need to showcase the country’s achievements in the aviation sector.

For more than ten years, the UAE has launched several international initiatives aimed at reducing emissions, he added, pointing out that the authority formed a national team involving all strategic partners in the aviation sector to host the conference and lower emissions.

The team comprises significant task forces specialising in media, operations, logistics and aviation storytelling, he further added.

He said the GCAA had won the bid to host the third edition of the Conference on Aviation and Alternative Fuels in November, the most important global event on aviation’s role in climate change, which discussed the future of aviation fuel production and key steps to speed up the process.

The authority and the country’s aviation team have been instrumental in all relevant international discussions since 2010, under the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) framework and “COP.”

Many ICAO resolutions that support the strategic goals of reducing emissions have been endorsed, Al Suwaidi added, noting the UAE’s active role in the ICAO’s Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection, where it works with over 700 global experts to develop laws, systems and solutions for environmental balance, economic growth and climate change mitigation.

The UAE also submitted a detailed national action plan, the “National Plan for Emission Reduction,” which was praised by the organisation, he said in conclusion