NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan has received observer status at the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) and has become the third CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) country to be admitted to the ECAC, the Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan announced.
Photo credits: icao.int.
The Civil Aviation Committee of the Kazakh Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development and the Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan signed a memorandum of cooperation with the ECAC.
The collaboration will cover flight safety, accident investigation, aviation safety, environment, and other areas of international civil aviation.
The ECAC, an intergovernmental organization established in 1955, now totals 44 members, including all 28 European Union countries as well as Azerbaijan and Armenia among the CIS countries. The ECAC is a discussion platform for handling air transport production prospects, air passengers and carriers’ interests, and security issues.
The Civil Aviation Committee has been working for more than five years to join the ECAC as an observer. The ICAO’s (International Civil Aviation Organization) regional office and the European Commission meetings have been examining this issue since the launch of the Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan, as an observer in the ECAC, had the opportunity to discuss issues that are of paramount importance for the country at the pan-European level, such as the safety of flights of Kazakh carriers, expanding the geography of flights, environmental problems, as well as aviation security issues.
Observers participate in all public meetings and conferences held by the ECAC.
The ECAC enables observers to receive technical support in staff training and in adapting European standards and harmonizing national legislation in the field of civil aviation with existing European legislation with the assistance of the ECAC and the European Commission.
In addition, Kazakhstan’s presence in the ECAC will effectively ensure the integration of civil aviation in Kazakhstan to the world community as a whole.
The ECAC works closely with other regional organizations and individual ICAO member states, including the United States, on a number of civil aviation issues.
The aviation authorities of Kazakhstan plan to become full members of the ECAC in the future, which will allow for participation in closed meetings only for ECAC member states and will ensure further work on the implementation of European civil aviation standards in Kazakhstan.
The Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan was established as part of the “100 concrete steps. Plan of the nation”. This is a fundamentally new approach to ensuring the flight safety in the country in compliance with international best practices of industry regulation. These standards are being introduced in Kazakhstan for the first time.
