Representatives of the European Union and Russia have held consultations in Brussels on issues of flight safety for Russian aircraft to member countries in the Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA) program, Russia’s Permanent Mission to the EU said on Friday.

“On October 5, 2018, Russia-EU bilateral technical consultations were held in Brussels on issues of ensuring flight safety for Russian airlines that transport passengers and cargoes to airports of member countries in the SAFA program.

At the meeting, the results of inspections of Russian airlines’ aircraft were discussed,” the diplomatic mission said adding that the Russian delegation was headed by deputy head of Rosaviatsiya air transport agency Oleg Storchevoy.

Russia’s Permanent Mission to the EU said that “representatives of the European Commission noted the continuing positive tendency of improvements in flight safety of Russian airlines.” “The sides confirmed high effectiveness of holding meetings in this format,” the mission added.

The diplomatic mission stressed that meetings in this format between the EU and Russia have been held without any interruptions. “Despite freezing dialogue on transport overall, work in this sphere [flight safety of Russian airlines] has continued without any disruptions since 2009,” the mission said.