Russia and Kazakhstan plan to outline their interaction within the ERA GLONASS project before the end of 2012

Russia and Kazakhstan plan to outline their interaction within the ERA GLONASS project before the end of 2012, Newskaz.ru reports, citing Russian Vice PM Vladislav Surkov as saying following his talks with Kazakhstan’s PM Serik Akhemtov November 27. Early November Russia offered Kazakhstan to participate in ERA-GLONASS [Automated emergency response system], a large-scaled project to commercialize GLONASS technology. “Today we have come to Kazakhstan in a small delegation to discuss concerted development of the systems”, Mr. Surkov said. “We believe Russia is a transit country and we do understand that without cooperation with Kazakhstan there cannot be a full-fledged Eurasian transport corridor (…) I believe the two nations are interested in implementing GLONASS-based technologies in both Russian and Kazakhstan’s territories”, the Russian Vice PM said. He admitted that the Russian side “is fully aware that the Kazakh side is the one to set priorities in the Kazakhstan’s territory (…) We are flexible and plan to outline further interaction before the end of the year”, the Vice PM said. “Russia doesn’t pursue being a majority shareholder in a respective JV (…) We are ready to be partners, to share technology. If need be, we are ready to co-finance development of the new services, the new navigation technology that enable to go in for precision farming and control high threat facilities”, Mr. Surkov said. Kazakhstan’s Vice PM Kairat Kelimbetov said that “the last mile is of great importance for such vast countries as Russia and Kazakhstan. Expeditious medical assistance to motorists in emergency situations depends how fast dispatcher systems are informed (…) Within the Customs Union of Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus we now have single requirements to cars manufacturing (…) a navigation device is expected to be obligatory as a tool to ensure motorists’ safety (…) We are considering not only participating in the ERA GLONASS system, but also producing navigation devices (…) it will be a project to bind together infrastructure of the two nations”. According to http://www.nis-glonass.ru, Accident Emergency Response System ERA-GLONASS utilizes GLONASS technology to enhance motorists’ safety. In event of an accident, information about the distressed vehicle, including its exact location, is automatically transmitted to the System Emergency Response Center. Public Safety Answering Point operator verifies that the accident took place by contacting the vehicle's driver, and dispatches the emergency services to the accident scene. Vehicle owners can also elect to use their ERA-GLONASS vehicle terminal to access an array of additional services, related to navigation, information exchange, remote vehicle diagnostics, and so on. The ERA-GLONASS System will reduce emergency services’ time-to-arrival by up to 30%, saving up to 4,000 lives in Russia every year.