Today in Ohrid the Civil Aviation Agencies of the Republic of North Macedonia, the Republic of Serbia, the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Montenegro signed Multilateral Aeronautical Search and Rescue Agreement as a part of the joint regional activities of the Regional Aeronautical Search and Rescue Advisory Committee (RASARAC) in the field of civil aviation.

The Agreement strengthens the mutual cooperation at the level of Agencies related to building, and developing capacities, exchanging experience and knowledge and improving operational cross-border cooperation.

The Director General of the Civil Aviation Agency, Tomislav Tuntev, emphasized that this provides for the harmonization of search and rescue operations in the countries of the region, which allows for integration of the procedures into an efficient system for providing the necessary resources in the field of civil aviation, and these procedures are fully compliant with the EUROCONTROL standards.

The Minister of Transport and Communications, Blagoj Bochvarski, also had his address. He emphasized that regional cooperation is extremely important for setting high professional standards in civil aviation.

“Considering that there is a need for an organized Search and Rescue System for aircraft and people in distress as high-risk operations, today’s gathering is only a confirmation that the countries of the region are working on harmonizing the domestic legislation for providing the necessary resources for this type of operations. The development of air traffic and aviation in the Republic of North Macedonia is high on the Government’s agenda, and in that direction we are creating the conditions to build a long-term and efficient system of organizing civil aviation”, said Minister Bochvarski.

He also emphasized that the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia adopted the Law on Aviation which provides for the basis for raising the standards in the field of aviation.