On Thursday, the travel industry witnessed a milestone moment when G7 leaders mutually agreed upon seven key principles aimed at building a "long-lasting recovery for the international travel sector".
Their pledges were made during yesterdays' G7 transport and health meeting, the first summit of its kind attended by G7 transport and health ministers from major global economies. The G7 inter-governmental forum consists of delegates from the U.S., Canada, Japan, U.K, France, Germany and Italy, as well as the European Union in a guest capacity.
While no detailed or concrete steps were set forth yesterday, securing world leaders' shared promise to align their border policies in order to facilitate international travel is itself an achievement. And, this was only the beginning of the conversation. U.K. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, who chaired the meeting, said in a statement that G7 members are, "committed to continuing this dialogue, and to deepening cooperation on facilitating the safe and sustainable reopening of international travel."
The seven key agreed-upon principles will guide the development of global standards for international travel, to ensure a lasting recovery and set precedents for future policy responses to emerging issues.
These seven core principles are:
- Future-proofing the transportation sector against future health threats
- Ensuring the fair treatment and safety of essential transport personnel
-Respecting privacy and data protection in implementing vaccination certification solutions
-Reaffirming the pre-eminence of scientific evidence in planning international travel policy
-Ensuring fairness and equity in respective national responses
-Maintaining regular international and multilateral engagement
-Delivering a safe, sustainable and resilient recovery
The G7 members also agreed to focus on building a sustainable global recovery by prioritizing efforts to decarbonize transportation and protect the rights of sector workers. They collectively recognized the importance of continued testing and vaccines in mitigating the risks inherent in the current pandemic, and any future infectious disease outbreaks.
Achieving uniformity in vaccine recognition looks to be one of the biggest challenges facing G7 and non-G7 nations alike, but ministers acknowledged the importance of sharing information on such shared difficulties and benefit from others' experiences.
This news arrives ahead of this month's upcoming International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) High-level Conference on COVID-19. "Ministers affirmed their support for the work of the ICAO to align travel requirements, and help facilitate interoperability of vaccination certificates and applications," Shapps reported. "The G7 ministers also noted their desire to reach a collective global agreement on a single vision for aviation recovery, resilience and sustainability beyond the global pandemic at the ICAO High-level Conference on COVID-19 in October."
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