International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), specialized agency of the United Nations, organized in 1947, with headquarters at Montreal. The objective of the ICAO, which has 190 member nations, is to encourage the orderly growth of international civil aviation, establishing uniform standards for aircraft markings, airworthiness, and licensing of pilots. Its strategic objectives are to provide safe, secure, sustainable, and efficient global civil aviation, to minimize aviation's adverse effects on the environment, and to strengthen the laws governing international civil aviation. The ICAO is governed by a board elected by its members (civil airport authorities), which meets annually. A directorate general implements board policies and may act as arbiter between states in disputes in the interpretation of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation of 1944 (see air, law of the). The ICAO also renders technical assistance to member nations, especially in the field of training.
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