‘No country left behind.’ Exclusive interview with ICAO Deputy Head Miguel Marín

This year the city of Marrakech became the setting for the Global Implementation Support Symposium (GISS), organized by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which was held between April 14–16, 2026. 

It was the first time that the GISS conference, which is ICAO’s flagship event, was hosted by an African country. The event brought together high-level delegates from different member states. 

As its title implies, the focus of GISS is capacity development and the provision of implementation support to strengthen global aviation systems in accordance with ICAO’s strategic plan for 2050. This vision of the future of aviation is built around two core goals: zero fatalities from aviation accidents and net zero carbon emissions. 

Achieving these goals will require a concerted effort from many ICAO member states and their aviation authorities, which face a broad range of challenges and, occasionally, conflicting priorities, often with limited resources. 

It is in this context that “No country left behind” has become the unofficial motto of summits like GISS, and one of the main drivers of ICAO’s Capacity Development and Implementation Bureau. 

AeroTime met with the bureau’s Deputy Director, Miguel Marín, to learn more about the goal of helping member states fulfill ICAO’s mandate and turn policy goals and standards into concrete on-the-ground projects.  

Originally from Mexico, Marín is an industry veteran who worked as an airline pilot for 24 years before joining ICAO more than a decade and a half ago. But Marín’s involvement with ICAO dates back even earlier. He also participated in ICAO panels as a senior representative for the International Federation of Airline Pilots.  

Marín highlighted how, despite the travel disruptions that have been affecting parts of the world, such as the conflict in the Middle East, the 2026 edition of GISS had registered a significant increase in the number of delegates. This underlines just how many countries see further air connectivity as a major development vector for their economies.   

This goal is, in great part, dependent on the successful implementation of ICAO’s standards and best practices.  

“States don’t come here to sign treaties,” explained Marín. “They come here to work on implementing standards, to see how we can help each other, how we cannot leave a country behind.”  

Marín continued our conversation by describing the main pillars of ICAO and how it fits his task as the head of the ICAO’s Capacity Development and Implementation Bureau.  

“We do three things: standards making, auditing and implementation support. And what we have been focusing on since the past few years is implementation support,” he said. “We still do standards, we still do auditing, but we have identified that our member states are not all able to implement the standards that we develop at the same pace.”  

Marín added that one of the core tasks of the Bureau is to provide guidance to countries which do not always get their priorities right.  

“Sometimes they get focused on areas that they don’t really need, while overlooking areas that are more important to them,” he added.   

To illustrate this point, Marín provided an example of a small island state with no airline of its own. Why would that country dedicate its attention to airline certification procedures if it had no plans for an airline? They may just be following the guidance in ICAO’s “Annex 6” [relating to aircraft operations – ed. note] . This hypothetical island state should perhaps focus on other processes, like airport-related procedures, because it receives airlines and tourism, and that’s what matters most for its economy.   

“Basically, we work with our regional offices to identify the needs of our member states. We then help those states overcome those needs,” Marín said. “Sometimes it’s just about providing support, expertise, consultancy. Sometimes it’s just helping them with projects to build up their aviation infrastructure.”  

How ICAO support its member countries  

But what if the government in question does not have the resources to implement ICAO’s recommendations?  

According to Marín, the bureau basically works with two types of projects: technical and assistance projects.   

“Technical projects are those in which the states do have the funds, whether their own or what they have received, for example, through a development bank or a multilateral financial institution,” he said. “So, the services we provide them are twofold: we can either provide them with expertise, bringing in the experts that can help write regulations, auditing, training their inspectors and so on. We’re there for periods of time until they develop these capacities and then we are out.”  

“The other type of services is what we call leveraging economies of scale,” he added, referring to those cases in which ICAO can act as a force multiplier in procurement processes.  

Here, Marín returned to the small island state example to illustrate the latter case.  

“You might have a small island state buying systems for an ILS [Instrumental Landing Systems – ed. note] once in a while. They’re probably going to get “list pricing”, because they do it occasionally; they are like a corner store. They might not even have the expertise to draft the technical specifications and do the tendering efficiently,” he explained. “So, by purchasing through us, we can get them “wholesale prices” we negotiate through an international tendering process, and we just hand that over to that state. These are some benefits from economies of scale.”   

Marín explained that this streamlined procurement process may also benefit other states that are in the same situation. The ICAO can also use its weight when dealing with external suppliers and consultants.  

“Companies usually focus on their big clients rather than their small clients, so, if, for example, something goes wrong, it may take some time to get fixed,” Marín said. 

“That’s just business, it’s not really the company’s fault. It is like this; it’s just a matter of fact. We have more leverage, though, when it comes to helping states that buy through us. These are advantages, again, that we bring to the states.”  

Marín noted that the assistance projects are what the bureau calls “funded by voluntary funds”, or “resource mobilization”.   

“So, what we did at the assembly, for the first time, is to try and bring some order to how we mobilize resources,” he added “We printed a strategy, what we call a ’global appeal’. We then knocked on the doors of all our regional offices, since they have boots on the ground and know what our member-states need, and we put that into a document. We then requesting funds to support those projects.”   

Trust the master plan 

Marín explained that while the bureau handles a wide variety of projects, it is increasingly focused on master planning, that is helping states establish an aviation master plan, or, in some cases, a broader country master plan. This includes aviation, the country’s civilian aviation system: airports, air navigation, etc.   

In fact, during the 2026 GISS in Marrakech Nigeria’s Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo presented the country’s Civil Aviation Master Plan. This 20-year plan, which covers the period 2025–2045, focuses on airport modernization, the adoption of new technologies, and workforce development.  

Marín underlined the bureau’s focus on master plans as a tool for garnering satisfactory results, and it is resilient over time, even in the face of political changes.  

“What we’ve seen in states that work with us is that these plans actually work, and they outlast administrations. A new administration may come in and say, ’well, our focus is more on tourism, rather than industry’ so we just adjust it,” he explained. “Whereas the earlier experience was that many states would say ’Oh, that was done by the old administration, we’ll chuck it’. So, I think that, and the recognition we bring, is the added value of doing the master plan with ICAO.”  

In order to draft a country’s aviation master plan, ICAO relies on a mix of in-house resources and competencies and external consultants.  

“While we have a template of what a master plan needs to have in terms of scope and extent, the depth of detail we go into really depends on what the state is looking for, and when we don’t have the expertise to do it we partner with relevant experts”, Marín explained.   

“We treat the states as our clients; we treat them as the industry would treat its clients. We work with them in our project documents to understand what their needs are, and we agree on those,” he continued. “We are working with the governments, and, at the end of the day, they’re paying for it. These master plans we’re talking about, they’re not cheap, because you’re talking about going to the state, understanding the state, talking to different ministries within the state and so on.”  

Priorities may also change widely from one country to the next.  

Here, Marín used the example of a state that wants to create a flag carrier. He explained how it is not ICAO’s role to tell that government whether to go ahead or not with the project, but to provide an honest assessment of the resources and capabilities available and of the other competing priorities in order to facilitate the decision-making process.  

“We would tell them, ‘Look. These are the resources you have, and this is what [this project] would imply. Perhaps you’d be better off if you do a cost-benefit analysis and end up investing your money in airport infrastructure. “  

“We’re not saying don’t do it, we are just saying prioritize,” he added. “The plan allows us to do that.”   The post ‘No country left behind.’ Exclusive interview with ICAO Deputy Head Miguel Marín appeared first on AeroTime.

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