At the opening ceremony, Li Xiaopeng, Minister of Transport of China, delivered the opening address, Song Zhiyong, Administrator of CAAC, and Juan Carlos Salazar, Secretary-General of ICAO, delivered keynote addresses, while Hassan Shahidi, President and CEO of FSF, and Han Kok Juan, Director-General of CAAS, delivered welcoming remarks. Hu Zhenjiang and Liang Nan, Deputy Administrators of CAAC, attended the opening ceremony.

Scene of the opening ceremony of the summit

In his speech, Li Xiaopeng welcomed all the guests. He pointed out that civil aviation with its efficient, convenient, flexible, influential and international features, constitutes an important part of the modern transport system, which is of great significance in promoting the construction of an open world economy. The Asia-Pacific region is the world's largest and fastest-growing regional air transport market and it is expected to contribute more than 50 percent of global air passenger growth this year. As China's modernization continues, China will bring stronger momentum and broader opportunities for the civil aviation growth in the Asia-Pacific region and the world. China is willing to work with all States, upholding the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, to adhere to putting safety first and prioritizing development, and to continue to strengthen cooperation in ensuring aviation safety, promoting green development and building industry resilience, and jointly promote the construction of the “Silk Road in the Air”, so as to achieve common development and win-win cooperation, fostering new growth drivers for the world's economic growth and opening up a new space for global development.

Opening address for the summit by Li Xiaopeng

Song Zhiyong delivered a keynote speech focusing on "Lives and Safety First—Building a Higher Level Civil Aviation Safety with Human as the Focus". He said that China’s civil aviation has always been committed to contributing to the safe development of global aviation, and the governance system and capacity of civil aviation in China have become more modernized. He pointed out that only by firmly establishing the concept of safe development and constantly strengthening awareness, strengthening the professional teams, personnel qualifications and capabilities, improving law-based governance and constantly regulating safety conduct, and continuously improving people’s working efficiency with science and technology can we better shape aviation safety; only by strengthening international cooperation and sharing safety experience and achievements can we better shape common safety. He emphasized that global aviation still faces many risks and challenges in safety and hoped that countries in Asia-Pacific can create a more open, inclusive and positive safety culture, strengthen talent training and science and technological support, and promote international and regional cooperation and exchanges to jointly promote the Asia-Pacific and even the global civil aviation industry to achieve a high level of safety and high-quality development.

Keynote address by Song Zhiyong

In his keynote address, Juan Carlos Salazar said that human performance is at the core of aviation safety. As we embrace new technologies and tackle global challenges, we must never lose sight of the human element and attach great importance to safe and security management. ICAO has long been committed to the promotion of aviation safety and sustainable development, and has continued to promote the realization of such long-term goals as zero fatalities in international aviation from accidents and acts of unlawful interference, net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 for international aviation operations, and the establishment of a reliable, accessible and seamless air transport network, by strengthening organizational optimization, business innovation, the introduction of talents, synergistic cooperation, resource optimization and other aspects of its work. Next, it is in hope that governments, enterprises and international organizations will make concerted efforts to promote the safe, efficient and sustainable development of the global civil aviation industry and contribute more to the economic and social prosperity of all countries.

Keynote address by Juan Carlos Salazar

More than 450 experts and scholars from civil aviation authorities, international organizations, airlines, airports, air navigation service providers and scientific research units from 23 countries attended this summit. A series of keynote addresses, executive panel, regular panel discussions and other activities were held for in-depth discussions on topics such as safety culture, runway safety, artificial intelligence, selecting for success, training methodologies, addressing automation complacency, managing fatigue, reinforcing the importance of mental health for aviation safety, and so on. Twenty Chinese and foreign enterprises, universities and associations, including COMAC and Boeing, made use of the platform to showcase their products.