The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, was created with the signing in Chicago, on 7 December 1944, of the Convention on International Civil Aviation. ICAO is the permanent body charged with the administration of the principles laid out in the Convention.

The aims and objectives of ICAO, as contained in Article 44 of the Chicago Convention, are to develop the principles and techniques of international air navigation and to foster the planning and development of international air transport so as to insure the safe and orderly growth of international civil aviation throughout the world.

ICAO has a sovereign body, the Assembly, and a governing body, the Council. One of the major duties of the Council is to adopt International Standards and Recommended Practices and to incorporate these as Annexes to the Convention on International Civil Aviation. Of the 18 Annexes, Annex 17 — Security — Safeguarding International Civil Aviation Against Acts of Unlawful Interference is the most referenced annex to airport security management.

With respect to security training, ICAO develops course material on a range of topics for use by civil aviation administrations and a network of regional aviation security training centres (ASTCs). This material covers such subjects as airline and cargo security and, of course, crisis management. Training workshops and seminars are conducted on a regular basis.

In 2005 the AVSECO Academy was appointed as an ICAO Aviation Security Training Centre (ASTC) for the Asia-Pacific Region. The Academy provides ICAO standard training packages in English on the following subjects:-

ICAO Courses run by AVSECO are eligible for refund for Local Residence under the Professional Training and Examination Refund Scheme run by the Maritime and Aviation Training Fund. For details of eligibility and application procedures, please visit the schemes website www.matf.gov.hk or click here for the leaflet.