Kazakhstan, Russia to coop in aviation search

ASTANA. KAZINFORM The Kazakh Senate has adopted Law "On Ratification of the Agreement on Cooperation in Aviation Search and Rescue between the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Government of the Russian Federation" in a plenary session.

"The purpose of the Agreement is to comply with the provisions of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, also referred to as the Chicago Convention, as it entails signature of an agreement between the two neighboring states for coordinating aviation search and rescue actions.

The agreement is aimed at cooperation between the countries' salvage services for searching and rescuing the passengers and crews of distressed aircrafts in line with the International Civil Aviation Organization standards and recommendations.

The agreement defines the legal framework for joint search and rescue operations, i.e. Annex 12 to the Chicago Convention, and guidelines for international aviation and maritime search as per the International Civil Aviation Organization", Kazakh Vice Minister of Investment and Development Roman Sklyar said introducing the bill.

According to him, the agreement obliges the sides to ensure mutual notification of any aviation accidents and entitles one country to request from the other one to assist in a search-and-rescue operation. The sides will incur the expenses related to the Agreement implementation on their own.