MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The UN's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade association uniting over 260 airlines, are working together toward a global convention on weapons with anti-aircraft capabilities amid last year's downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine, IATA head Tony Tyler said Friday.
"We are working with ICAO to achieve a global convention controlling the design, manufacture, sale, and deployment of weapons with anti-aircraft capability," Tyler said in a statement on the first anniversary of the MH17 crash, which claimed the lives of 298 people.
"Civilian airliners… bring people together. In doing so, aviation fosters greater understanding and tolerance around the globe. The victims of MH17 were participants in that amazing spirit of adventure and exchange. We owe it to them, and to every person who boards a plane, that civilian airliners will never again be brought down by weapons of war," Tony Tyler said.
The IATA director general added that his organization supports the international investigation which is continuing to search for the "complete truth" about the tragedy.
According to Tyler, the aviation industry is "fully committed to working with governments to ensure this tragedy will never be repeated."
