MOSCOW. April 15 (Interfax-AVN) - Officials of the Russian Emergencies Ministry and the leadership of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) have discussed in Geneva the establishment of an international emergencies agency, Russian Deputy Emergencies Minister Yuri Brazhnikov told Interfax- Military News Agency on Monday.
"Practical actions on the agency's establishment will be among top priorities of the Russian Emergencies Ministry in 2002. Our partners in the UN bodies perfectly understand the necessity to organize such an agency and are ready to provide comprehensive support," Brazhnikov said.
According to him, "the Russian Emergencies Ministry is working on a series of issues with corresponding bodies in Switzerland and will register an association for supporting the agency's establishment." "The agency should have a very flexible structure adapted to quick response to large-scale transborder emergencies as fully as possible," the official said.
Provision of high technologies to the countries that need them is among the main tasks of the agency, Brazhnikov noted. Among such technologies is the BE-200 multifunctional amphibian developed by the Beriyev research and technical enterprise in Russia's Taganrog that has already entered the global market of humanitarian services.
"After the agency is established, the amphibian will be widely used to combat forest fires at requests of other countries. At present the BE-200 is the most modern piece of equipment that has no analogues in the world, and we must support the aircraft," Brazhnikov added.