MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT

Conclusions on further work are adopted

Meetings of the Regional Aeronautical Search and Rescue Advisory Committee

Podgorica – On 10 and 11 May, the Civil Aviation Agency of Montenegro organised meetings of Working Groups and Expert Team of the Regional Aeronautical Search and Rescue Advisory Committee – RASARAC in Podgorica.

The meetings were attended by the RASARAC representatives from Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro as the host State, special representative of EUROCONTROL for cooperation with RASARAC, while representatives from the Cyprus search and rescue centre in this area JRCC Larnaca joined via video conference.

The meeting of the Expert Team held on 11 May was also attended by the representatives of the Ministry of Interior, Administration for Maritime Safety and Port Management, Ministry of Defence and Montenegrin Air Force, Ministry of Capital Investments, Serbia Montenegro Air Traffic Services Agency SMATSA Llc Belgrade, Airports of Montenegro, National Investigation Commission of accidents and serious incidents of aircraft and Mountain Rescue Service of Montenegro.

Numerous topics were initiated at the meeting, such as improvement of mutual cooperation and support of Member States, building and development of capacities in the area of search and rescue of aircraft, improvement of operational cross-border cooperation and cooperation with organisations such as ICAO, EUROCONTROL, COSPAS-SARSAT, as well as support in implementation of the ICAO standards, regulations and procedures in this area. Likewise, important conclusions are adopted on further work within this committee and on establishment of coordination with other foreign and international organisations involved in the area of search and rescue.

RASARAC is established in 2016, and now 10 countries are engaged in its work – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro and Czech Republic, as well as some umbrella organisations such as EUROCONTROL and ICAO.

All participants expressed their content with organisation of the meeting and commended the Civil Aviation Agency for the effort invested in organisation of this event attended by more than 35 participants from Montenegro and abroad. We remind that Montenegro took over the presidency of RASARAC for 2022 in January, and the Civil Aviation Agency shall organise at least one more meeting of the Expert Team and Management Board of RASARAC.