Stavropol, June 29 (RIA Novosti) - Coast guards from Russia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Ukraine, and Turkey have held an exercise in the Black Sea to practice joint search and rescue efforts as well as operations against illegal migration and marine life poaching.
The coastguards familiarized themselves with a Russian-designed computer-aided information sharing system used by the Coast Guards of countries of the Pacific Rim.
The exercise provided a fitting end to the fifth international conference of Coast Guard officials from the five Black Sea nations. The two-day forum was hosted by the Russian Federal Security Service's North Caucasus regional border control department.
Colonel General Nikolai Lisinsky, who led the joint exercise, said the Black Sea nations should continue to step up cooperation in border control. He emphasized that only a proactive approach could make their cooperation sustained, efficient and engaging.
The organizers will use the results of the exercise as a foundation for proposals on a joint database to facilitate information sharing between the national Coast Guards. These proposals are to be considered at the Black Sea nations' sixth Coast Guard conference, due next year.
