Nepal has passed a safety audit conducted by International Civil Aviation Organisation (Icao).

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) on Friday informed the press that the global aviation watchdog formally notified Nepal that the “significant safety concern” (SSC) issued to Nepal in July 2013 has been resolved.

Caan told the press briefing that SSC validation committee meeting held in July 20 in Icao headquarters in Montreal, Canada has decided to resolve the SSC.

A two-member expert team of the Icao had conducted audit on July 4. The audit identified Nepal’s overall effective implementation of Icao safety standards has improved to 66 percent as compared to the global safety benchmark of 60 percent.

Icao monitors Nepal’s aviation safety oversight capabilities through the Icao Coordinated Validation Mission (ICVM). The mission is generally invited by a state when it is fully confident that it has fully complied with the international safety standards.

In July 2013, an Icao mission visited Nepal to validate the corrective measures taken by the country to address the deficiencies pointed out by the global aviation watchdog in 2009. But having found detected several lapses during the on-site audit held from July 10-16, the UN supervisory body had given the significant safety concern (SSC) tag to Nepal’s aviation sector in its audit report in August 2013.

Following the SSC, the European Commission (EC) had in December 2013 blacklisted all Nepali carriers for the worst record of air safety oversight.

Caan officials said they are optimistic that EC would lift Nepali carriers from its safety blacklist in the upcoming safety committee meeting to be held in Brussels, Belgium this November.