OREANDA-NEWS. October 14, 2011. The two-day Russia-EU Aviation Summit has commenced in St. Petersburg today, featuring Vnukovo International among its participants. The Airport's delegation is headed by its Director General Vasily Alexandrov and Vitaly Vantsev, First Deputy Director General of JSC Vnukovo Airport.

The Summit is held at the initiative of the RF Ministry of Transport and the EU Commission and is intended to provide a forum for the discussion of pressing issues of cooperation in civil aviation. The [negotiating] Parties intend to discuss such issues as the abrogation of  designated carrier status as a notion, the possibility of replacing the existing numerous bilateral air services agreements with a single pan-European Union regulatory instrument.

Participants of the Summit also intend to hold an exchange of opinion on such issues as air transport's environmental sustainability and greenhouse emission quota trading. Furthermore, the forum's agenda includes the outlook on the Trans-Siberian air route operations and the commercial agreements regulating their use; the technological innovations in air traffic control & management, opportunities with regard to maximizing the compatibility of the Parties' air navigation systems and the coordination of their respective flight rules.

Discussions on cooperation in airport and flight safety, and those regarding airport infrastructure development, are likewise expected to be held in the course of the Summit.