This was in focus at the meeting in Moscow on Friday between Russian Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu and Finnish Interior Minister Kari Rajamaki, said Mr. Shoigu's deputy Yuri Brazhnikov.
"Emergencies relief interaction between Russia and Finland especially in border regions sets an example for other border regions. The bilateral agreement on cooperation in emergencies relief is truly operational and recent years have seen many examples of good work of our rescue services," Mr. Brazhnikov said.
To him, there are not enough rescuers in a border town or settlement to deal with a major emergency. Then, help from rescuers from an adjacent foreign region can arrive much faster than from own cities and regions.
In this connection, the two ministers have agreed upon developing communication and operative interaction between rescue formations and their control centers in the border zone. This matter is going to be in discussion also at the next meeting between top officials of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry and the Finnish Interior Ministry, due in February in Petrozavodsk, capital of Karelia (Russia's autonomy on the Finnish border).
Also in discussion at today's meeting was the training of rescuers in the educational institutions of the two countries. The Finnish interior minister proposed preparing Russian rescuers at the Kuopio training center, now being set up under the aegis of the European Union.
"The Finnish rescue service has a very developed system of reacting to emergency situations and good interaction with territorial bodies. Minding the on-going reorganization of such bodies at our Emergency Situations Ministry, the Finnish experience would come in useful," Mr. Brazhnikov said.
It is also interesting that the Finnish center accumulates the experience of other EU rescue services.
For its part, our ministry is ready to offer the use of its educational institutions and training centers to Finnish colleagues, Mr. Brazhnikov said.
Mr. Shoigu and Mr. Rajamaki also considered exchange of high technologies between their ministries. Thus, the Finnish side voiced interest in the multipurpose amphibious plane Be-200, now in service at the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry.
