Press Releases 2009

USTDA Supports India's Civil Aviation Expansion and Modernization, Announces U.S.-India Aviation Summit

June 12, 2009

Washington - The United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) today awarded a grant under the U.S.-India Aviation Cooperation Program (ACP) to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in India.

The grant reflects USTDA's strategy of focusing on programs in India that create mutually beneficial relationships for advancing our bilateral relations and opening markets to greater trade by funding a program for the DGCA on aviation sector technology standards and processes.

The $371,700 grant was conferred during a signing ceremony held in USTDA's Business Center in Arlington, Virginia. USTDA Acting Director Leocadia I. Zak and DCGA Director General Dr. Nasim Zaidi signed the grant agreement on behalf of the U.S. and Indian governments, respectively. The event was also attended by India's civil aviation leaders and U.S.-India ACP member companies and organizations.

At the ceremony, Acting Director Zak also announced plans to hold the second U.S.-India Aviation Summit in Washington, D.C. in late fall and USTDA's intention to award a separate grant to the DGCA on helicopter safety and regulatory frameworks in the near future. "We expect that this second U.S.-India Aviation Summit will help further solidify and expand the exciting technical and commercial partnership our country has with India's growing aviation sector," said Zak.

Today's grant, the fourth ACP-endorsed activity supported by the USTDA, will support a standards training program to aid in establishing more efficient and reliable processes for engineering and maintaining aerospace products, thereby further opening the Indian aviation market to U.S. goods and services.

The training will be conducted by U.S.-India ACP companies and will consist of 21 courses in areas such as air worthiness, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirement compliance, and quality management. HEICO Parts Group, Inc. of Hollywood, Florida, will contribute substantial additional resources to the completion of this program.

The ACP was formed in 2007 as a public-private partnership between USTDA, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and U.S. aviation companies to provide a forum for unified communication between the Government of India and U.S. public and private sector entities in India. The ACP is designed to work directly with the Indian Government to identify and support India's civil aviation sector modernization priorities.