STAMP ISSUES FROM 2015 TO 2018

Mexico: 60^th Anniversary of the NACC Regional Office

Issue date: 07/12/2017
	No white border. On the background of a compass, the design shows the white silhouette of a Boeing 747 aircraft with four engines, a Boeing 737 Next Gen in blue and the anniversary logo in the foreground. The meaning behind the anniversary logo is provided in the background section.
Official First Day Cover (Front and back; sequential number on the back).
Full sheet of 50 stamps, with sequential control number.
Background: The stamp was issued on 7 December, marking the International Civil Aviation Day. History of the establishment of the NACC Office. Shortly after the establishment of ICAO in December 1944, the interim Council of the Organization recognized the need to subdivide the world into Air Navigation Regions in order to facilitate the planning and implementation of ground services and facilities essential for international air transport operations. In each of these regions, a regional office might be established; however, for increased efficiency and economy, this number was later reduced. From 1947, the duties of the North American Regional Office were carried out by the Air Navigation Bureau (ANB) at Headquarters. See more information about this at the following link: The Regional Offices and the Regional Organization. In 1955, during its review of the budget estimates for 1956, the Council considered a report by the Secretary General on the comparative costs of operation of the North American and Caribbean Regional (NOCAR) Office at different locations and decided that, as an interim measure, budgetary provision should be made to enable the Office to be established as a separate entity at Headquarters. At the same time, the Secretary General was asked to present a separate study on the question of establishing the Office at a point in the region where it could offer the best service to the States and territories concerned. During its off-site 29^th Session - Part I held in Caracas from 18 to 19 July (right after the 10^th Session of the Assembly held in Caracas from 19 June to 16 July 1956), the Council chose Mexico City as the site of the NOCAR Office, subject to the conclusion of a satisfactory arrangement for premises and the grant of the customary privileges and immunities. In December 1956, an agreement extending these privileges and immunities and providing for accommodation at a token rental (1 peso per annum) was approved by the Council and signed on its behalf by the President. This transfer of the Office became effective on 15 February 1957, as the guest of the Government of Mexico, on the sixth floor of 540 Chapultepec Avenue, Colonia Juarez, Mexico City. Unfortunately, the severe earthquake which struck the Mexican capital on 28 July 1957 caused such damage to the building that it had to be evacuated; at the year’s end, the Office was still in temporary quarters. Repairs to the building on Chapultepec Avenue were, however, proceeding and it was expected that it would be ready for occupancy again in 1958. Meanwhile, the United Nations took steps to have all UN and Specialized Agencies’ offices in Mexico City housed in this building. The purpose was to lease the entire building from its owners and to sub-lease office space to the various Agencies. At the end of October 1958, the NOCAR Office reoccupied the premises in Mexico City (540 Chapultepec Avenue) from which it had been obliged to move until the damage caused by the earthquake that struck the Mexican capital in July 1957 could be repaired. The desire of the United Nations to have all UN and Specialized Agencies offices in Mexico City in one building was not realized. The other Agencies preferred the quarters they had to those planned for them in the Chapultepec Avenue building, while this arrangement under which ICAO occupied its premises there did not make it advantageous for it to move to the building that housed most of them. News release from ICAO Public Information Office (1957/13) related to the establishment of the Office in Mexico City. Excerpt from the ICAO Journal (Vol. 72 – No. 2) Description of the 60^th anniversary logo.