Kazakhstan has received observer status at the European Civil Aviation Conference and has become the third CIS country to be admitted to the ECAC. The Civil Aviation Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development of RoK and the Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan signed a Memorandum of cooperation with the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC). The collaboration will cover flight safety, accident investigation, aviation safety, environment, and other areas of international civil aviation.

Civil Aviation Committee has been working for more than five years to join the ECAC as an Observer. Since the launch of the Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan, the study of this issue has been strengthened at meetings held at the ICAO’s regional office and the European Commission.

Kazakhstan, having become an Observer in the ECAC, had the opportunity to discuss issues that are of paramount importance for our 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.

ECAC enables Observers to receive technical support in staff training and in adapting European standards, and harmonize national legislation in the field of civil aviation with European legislation with the assistance of the ECAC and the European Commission. In addition, our aviation authorities’ presence in the ECAC will effectively ensure the integration of civil aviation in Kazakhstan to the world community as a whole.

Participation in the meeting as observers also applies to the European Commission, the European Aviation Safety Agency, EUROCONTROL, as well as the Director of the ICAO regional office for Europe. The ECAC works closely with other regional organizations and individual ICAO member States, including the United States, on a number of civil aviation issues.

Aviation authorities of Kazakhstan plan to become a full member of the ECAC in the future, which will allow participation in closed meetings only for ECAC member States and will ensure further work on the implementation of European civil aviation standards in Kazakhstan.

Reference
The European Civil Aviation Conference is an intergovernmental organization that was established in 1955. the ECAC now totals 44 members, including all 28 EU countries (the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, France, etc.), 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. That is facilitated by the conference’s expert role of the, its relationship with ICAO and the Council of Europe, cooperation with EUROCONTROL, support from EASA and interaction with other organizations.