Nine senior Police officers were appointed hostage negotiators at the Ministry of Defence today. The appointment letters were presented by Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Chairman National Civil Aviation Security Committee, Major General (Retd.) Kamal Gunarathna. The officers have undergone a hostage negotiator course offered by the United Nation Mission, USA in the year 2006. The Team has been appointed to manage a crisis situation where a aircraft hijacking has taken place and passengers and the crew are held hostage. The appointment of a Hostage Negotiating Team is an internationally recognized norm that is in practice in all ICAO Member States. This national requirement has been addressed at the National Civil Aviation Security Committee (NCASC) meetings since 2016. Capt. Themiya Abeywickrama, Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority presented the Certificates of Acceptance to the appointees. P A Jayakantha, Deputy Director General of Civil Aviation (Aviation Security Regulation) together with Ajith Jayaekera, Consultant Aviation Security, Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka are associated with the programme.