India and the United States today signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) on modernisation of aviation infrastructure here and American certification to Indian aviation products such as aircraft parts.Marion C Blakey, administrator of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), signed the MoA with R K Singh, joint secretary in the civil aviation ministry, in the presence of Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and US Ambassador David Mulford.The MoA would enable India to get US assistance on a wide range of issues relating to aviation safety and technology, including modernising air traffic control procedures, setting safety standards and training of personnel.The agreement would also enable the US to assist India in developing its own space-based navigation system, GAGAN (Geostationary Augmentation and Navigation) project, Blakey said.GAGAN would provide navigational coverage to aircraft from West Asia to Japan over the landmass and the oceans. The project would make India part of a select group of nations developing similar projects. These nations were the US, European Union and Japan.Under the MoA, the US would provide technical and managerial expertise in developing, improving and operation of civil aviation infrastructure, standards, procedures, policies, training and equipment.
