Shipwreck victims are topic of Cuba-U.S. talks

On 19 and 20 September, a technical meeting was held in Havana between experts on search-and-rescue operations from Cuba and the United States. The respective delegations were headed by Eng. Oscar del Toro Quesada, chairman of the Cuban Coordinating Committee on Search and Rescue, under the Ministry of Transportation, and Mr. Richard A. Button, chief of the Division of Coordination of Search and Rescue of the U.S. Coast Guard Service.

Also participating were representatives of the Ministry of Transportation, the Armed Forces Ministry, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Relations, on behalf of Cuba, and representatives of the Coast Guard Service, the Department of Transportation and the Department of State, on behalf of the United States.

Participants at the meeting stressed the importance of strengthening the coordination of the air and sea search-and-rescue operations with the objective of saving the lives of persons in danger, guaranteeing the efficiency and effectiveness of the operations carried out by the organizations responsible for that activity in both countries and honor the international obligations derived from the International Convention on Air and Sea Search and Rescue and the International Convention on Civil Aviation.

As a result of the technical meeting, the participants agreed, on a preliminary basis, on an Operational Procedure for the Air and Sea Search and Rescue between Cuba and the United States, which will be submitted to the two governments for final approval.

The talks were held in a climate of respect and cooperation.

[Translation by Progreso Weekly]

Havana, 20 September 2013.