Paris (France), 26 February 2013
The ICAO European and North Atlantic Office (ICAO EUR/NAT) and Flight Safety Foundation International (FSFI) signed today a working arrangement enabling both parties to enhance Aviation Safety cooperation and foster safety initiatives in the ICAO European Region.
The agreement was signed with the approval of the ICAO Secretary General on the occasion of the second meeting of the Regional Aviation Safety Group for the European Region (RASG-EUR) which was held today, in Paris, on the premises of ICAO EUR/NAT Office.
Marshal Yevgeny Shaposhnikov (left), Chairman of Flight Safety Foundation International (FSFI), exchanging copies of the working agreement with Luis Fonseca de Almeida, ICAO EUR/NAT Regional Director, during RASG-EUR/2 which was chaired by Mr. Haydar Yalçin (centre), Deputy Director General of the Turkish Civil Aviation
“This working agreement, which we are very proud of, will streamline information sharing and mutual participation in high level safety initiatives. This will further ensure that aviation stakeholders operating in geographical areas with different legal and operational environments get the highest and most homogeneous degree of safety fostering,” said Luis Fonseca de Almeida, ICAO EUR/NAT Regional Director.
“Civil aviation, as a transportation mode, has long become the heritage of mankind. Thus, flight safety is a most noble cause, knowing no borders or national differences. This cause today demands united efforts from all. The agreement between the Flight Safety Foundation International and the ICAO European and North Atlantic Office is a commendable example of collaboration between an intergovernmental organization (ICAO) and a non-profit entity aimed toward an important goal,” said Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, Chairman of FSF International.
Former commander in chief of the Soviet Air Force, Marshal Yevgeny Shaposhnikov has also marked history as the last Defence Minister of the former Soviet Union (August-December 1991), under Mikhail Gorbachev’s presidency. He served also as CEO for the Russian carrier Aeroflot.
FSFI, which is located in Moscow, is an organization affiliated to the US-based Flight Safety Foundation. FSFI’s goals, as an independent non-government organization, are to enhance flight safety in the Russian Federation and in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) where it has been playing an important role for the last 23 years.
The ICAO EUR/NAT Office is one of the seven Regional branches of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Presently accredited to 56 out of ICAO’s 191 Member States, ICAO EUR/NAT has a territorial competence extending from North America in the West to the Asia/Pacific Region in the East and comprising airspace categories ranging from very high density oceanic airspace to low density continental airspace.
