Delegations from Cuba and the United States have agreed to a preliminary Operational Procedure for the Aeronautical and Marine Search and Rescue between the two countries, but the document will be subjected to the final approval by the two governments, said an official release available to Xinhua Saturday.

The document was the result of a technical meeting held in Havana, the Cuban capital, Thursday and Friday, with attendance of experts and officials from the two countries and developed in a climate of respect and cooperation, said local official media reports.

The respective delegations were led by the engineer Oscar del Toro Quesada, president of the Coordinating Commission of Search and Rescue of Cuba, which is affiliated to the Transport Ministry; and Richard A. Button, chief of the Search and Rescue Coordination Division of the US Coast Guard Service. The meeting was attended by officials of the Cuban Transport Ministry, the Ministries of the Armed Forces and Interior, and the Foreign Ministry of Cuba, and representatives of the US Coast Guard Service, the Transportation Department and the State Department.

The meeting stressed the importance of strengthening the coordination for the aeronautical and marine search and rescue operations and the need of saving the life of people in danger, while pledging to guarantee the efficiency and effectiveness of the operations carried out by the entities responsible for this activity in both countries and to honor obligations arising from the International Agreement on Aeronautical and Marine and Search Rescue and the International Agreement of Civil Aviation.

The United States government broke off unilaterally formal relations with Cuba in 1960 for ideological differences, but both countries have maintained interest section offices in Washington and Havana and shared a discreet cooperation in certain issues such as the fight against drugs and human traffic.