Meetings of the Steering Board and the Expert Team of the Regional Aeronautical Search and Rescue Advisory Committee (RASARAC) were held in Banja Luka on 5th and 6th of October 2021, organised by the Bosnia and Herzegovina Directorate of Civil Aviation.
The respective meetings of RASARAC's Expert Team and Steering Committee concluded that all goals, which had been set as imperative before the meetings, were met. It was considered and accepted that the BHDCA, as the chair in 2021, will amend the Rules of Procedure of RASARAC in the context of the methodology of the RASARAC's bodies regarding contingencies and submit the amendments to all RASARAC members. It was also agreed that representatives of the working groups within RASARAC would meet more often, with the aim of exchanging information, experiences and best practices.
It was also concluded, among other things, that the BHDCA would send a letter to the Director General of EUROCONTROL stating the achievements of the 11th meeting of the Expert Team and the 12th meeting of the Steering Board of RASARAC that were held in Banja Luka. In this letter EUROCONTROL will be asked to nominate a point of contact that would, by means of direct contact with RASARAC, be acquainted with all its activities and would actively participate in the work of RASARAC's bodies.
Based on the intention of the Directorate General Civil Aviation Administration of the Republic of Bulgaria to become a full member of RASARAC, which was unanimously accepted by the Steering Board, the BHDCA's Director General Čedomir Šušnjar and the Director General of the Directorate General Civil Aviation Administration of Bulgaria Hristo Sherionov signed an Appendix on Accession of the Bulgarian Directorate General Civil Aviation Administration to the Memorandum of Understanding as a full member of RASARAC.
All participants expressed their satisfaction with the organisation of the meetings and praised the BHDCA for its efforts to organise such an event, which brought together more than 30 participants from the member countries and observers of RASARAC, as well as institutions and organisations from Bosnia and Herzegovina that are involved in the search and rescue system in the event of an aircraft accident.
At the end of 2019 Bosnia and Herzegovina, i.e. the BHDCA, took over chairmanship of RASARAC for 2020, but due to the pandemic caused by the SarsCov2 virus, it continued its chairmanship in 2021, in agreement with the other member states.
As of 2022, Montenegro will take over the chairmanship of RASARAC.
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