Dorenda Baker, director of FAA's Aircraft Certification
Service, and Bharat Bhushan, director general
of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)
for India, signed the Implementation Procedures
for Airworthiness (IPA) here.
These implementing procedures reflect the mutual
commitment of the US and India to enhance international
safety and will enable a more efficient exchange
of aviation products, a US embassy statement said.
The IPA details the scope and nature of the cooperation
established in the framework set up in the US-India
Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA) Executive
Agreement.
The BASA Executive Agreement was signed by the
FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt and Civil Aviation
Secretary Nasim Zaidi July 18.
During the signing ceremony,Baker congratulated
Bhushan for demonstrating and sustaining a high
level of competence as a regulatory agency.
The FAA appreciates India's long standing commitment
to improving aviation safety, she said.
The process for the completion of the agreement
started on July 18, during the visit of US Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton to India.
The agreement is expected to open huge market
for export of aeronautical products manufactured
in the US and other regions of the world.
This will happen by reciprocal airworthiness
certification of civil aeronautical products imported/exported
between the two signatory authorities.
"This agreement between India and US will
also encourage investment in the Indian aircraft
manufacturing industry, and it is also expected
to help fast growing aviation industry in India,"
an official with the civil aviation ministry said.
The development came at the two-day US-India
aviation summit which is responsible in finding
new areas of co-operation and opportunities across
the Indian aviation market.
The third such summit is hosted by the US Trade
and Development Agency (USTDA) together with US-India
Aviation Cooperation Program (ACP) and Indian
civil aviation agencies.
Apart from the safety agreement, the USTDA-partnered
Metron Aviation inked a contract for a grant to
the state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI)
to fund a project for the implementation of an
advanced air traffic management (ATM) system in
the country.
The financial detail of the grant was not disclosed.
(IANS)
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