"Call for tighter airline security"

Monday, March 26, 2007

Call for tighter airline security
By Jim Ensom
South Africa - GlobalContinuity.com


The economic impact of a terrorist attack involving a large passenger
aircraft in Australia is estimated to be around $30 billion, according to
Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Regional
Services, Mark Vaile. Speaking ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) Transportation Ministers' Meeting on March 28 2007, Mr
Vaile said a key aim for APEC was building the capacity of all economies to
create an environment for the secure and efficient movement of passengers
and freight across the region. 

"The networked nature of the region's transport system means that attacks in
one economy can have far reaching ramifications for other economies, so
improving preventative security in the transport sector is an important
challenge for all economies in the region," Mr Vaile said. "Cooperation,
collaboration and capacity building offer significant opportunities for all
economies to enhance their transport security frameworks. For example,
developing comprehensive transport security strategies that focus on the
international intermodal movement of cargo door-to-door, and in particular
focusing on the high-risk transfer points is an important economic priority
for the economy.

"This could also extend to joint development projects that may lead to
improved consistency in standards, identify good practice and the
development of capability programmes that would economically benefit all
APEC economies. It is important that the APEC economies continue to work
together to enhance the region's transport security capacity by identifying
best practices, sharing information and training programs. Good examples of
these collaborative approaches so far have been work led by Singapore on
total supply chain security, a joint Australian-Indonesian project on
aviation security and an enhanced ongoing model visit program in relation to
internal maritime standards.

"The latest focus of global aviation security is on liquids, aerosols and
gels (LAGs), and each country is adopting slightly different requirements on
slightly different timetables. In Australia, new security measures for LAGs
come into effect from 31 March 2007. The security outcome is paramount but
greater cooperation between APEC economies on LAGs issues will allow a more
seamless experience for passengers," Mr. Vaile said.

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