Representatives from the Civil Aviation Directorate within Transport Malta met with their Brazilian counterparts in Lisbon, Portugal yesterday and signed a Memorandum of Understanding on air services and cooperation between the aeronautical authorities of both countries.

The delegations also initiated an Air Services Agreement between the respective Governments.

By means of this Memorandum, both sides reached agreement on a common regulatory framework which would permit the operation of air services between Malta and Brazil.  Moreover, this would open up new opportunities to the respective airlines  and investors of both sides as they would be able to cooperate between themselves and enter into arrangements on various routes linking Malta to Brazil.

Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects, Ian Borg, said that this is positive news for the aviation industry which is a very important segment for the Maltese economy. "This is in line with Government's policy to continue increasing the connectivity of Malta to the rest of the world."

Civil Aviation Directorate Director General Captain Charles Pace said that other similar initiatives are also in the pipeline and work has already started with other South American countries which include Colombia, Chile and Argentina.