About the IAC participation in World High-Level Safety Conference
On February 2-6 the delegation of the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) headed by the deputy of the Committee Chairperson participated in World High-Level Safety Conference which took place in the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) headquarters. The Conference gained special significance due to the disappearance of the aircraft operated by "Malaysian Airline" company in the Pacific ocean region in March 2014 and to the fatal accident with aircraft of the same airlines performing the flight MH17 at the Ukrainian territory on July 17, 2014.
More than 700 civil aviation representatives of 120 states and 35 international organizations participated in the Conference work. The Conference top goal consisted in the development of measures aimed at the international civil aviation flight safety improvement. The ICAO Secretariat proposal about the global risk assessment and the exchange of these assessments results was supported. In this connection the Conference participants took a stand for creation of centralized information depositary designed to ensure overall risk assessment connected with operations in conflict zones. The importance of the development of standards aimed at the improvement of civil aviation aircraft search and rescue systems was emphasized.
The Conference supported the proposal made by the number of states on the responsibility of states for civil aircraft flight safety on the basis of actions coordination between civil and military bodies.
The IAC delegation presented the working paper "Measures on prevention of civil aircrafts combat defeats". It contained the initiatives and specific measures aimed at the prevention of destruction or damage to civil aircraft, essential civil aviation infrastructure objects as a result of military activity including current and potential conflicts, as well as the necessity of independent international investigation of aircraft accidents (fatal accidents). There were no comments from the Member States of the Conference on presented by the IAC document excluding the Ukraine on clause 3.1.4.
Within the framework of participation in the Conference the IAC delegation was accepted by the ICAO President and the Secretary who proved that the IAC is the efficient and balanced mechanism in international and regional cooperation in the field of civil aviation and spoke in favor of further expansion of cooperation with the IAC in the framework of previously signed bilateral agreements with the ICAO. Besides the meetings with delegation leaders from Australia, China, the USA, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Canada, Portuguese, France, Turkey and UAE as well as the number of international organizations (IATA, ISASI, IFALPA and others) and other partners with which the IAC has bilateral agreements (73 countries and 18 international organizations in total) were held. The meetings with delegation heads from Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia were held as well (other countries of our region didn't participate in the Conference).
The Information document on expansion of cooperation within the framework of the ICAO-IAC project on flight safety improvement and specialists training in this field was presented by the IAC at the Conference. This project is strongly supported by the ICAO management which regards it as one of the most efficient programs of regional cooperation in the field of flight safety improvement. Besides, due to the number of accidents in recent years the actual document with recommendations on improvement of aircraft protection from ground icing was presented.
We would like to inform as well that on January 25 this year the Agreement on Aviation and Use of Airspace about the conditions of its headquarters location in the Azerbaijan Republic (Baku) between the Azerbaijan Republic government and the Council on aviation was submitted by the President of Azerbaijan and unanimously ratified by Milli Majlis on December 30, 2014. The decision about the Interstate Council headquarters location in Azerbaijan was unanimously taken at the 34th Interstate Council Session on December 6, 2013. This Agreement will allow to intensify the Interstate Council work and expand its integration potential that is particularly important in current international, foreign-policy and economical situation. This Agreement is quite similar to the Agreement between the Russian Federation Government and the Interstate Aviation Committee about the conditions of its headquarters location at the territory of the Russian Federation (Moscow) ratified by the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in December 1995.
__________________________
The Interstate Council and the IAC are international regional organizations of post-soviet New Independent States territory and act on the basis of the Interstate (intergovernmental) Agreement on Civil Aviation and Use of Airspace from December 6, 1991.
