Cuba and the United States signed a cooperation agreement about aeronautical and maritime search and rescue efforts. The said agreement will allow greater bilateral cooperation in the air and the maritime search and rescue operations.

According to U.S Department of State Diplomacy in Action, it will be considered as a positive step in normalizing relations in the last few days before President Barack Obama leaves the office. The agreement was signed Wednesday in Havana's Hotel Nacional by Cuba's Deputy Minister of Transport Marta Oramas Rivero, and Chargé d'Affaires ad interim of the U.S. Embassy, Jeffrey DeLaurentis.

The agreement between Cuba and the United States is considered as one of the 15 bilateral instruments which were signed by the two countries on December 17, 2014. Through it, there will be a massive cooperation on air and maritime search and rescue particularly in the Florida Straits and other setting territorial limits in Gulf of Mexico waters.

On the other hand, there was also another agreement which is supposed to be signed on Wednesday but was postponed for later this week. The third agreement is about health protocols when dealing issues like bird flu.

According to Josefina Vidal Twitter post, the signing today January 18 of the SAR [search and rescue] Agreement brings to 19 the total number of bilateral instruments concluded between Cuba and the US.

The accord is necessary for conducting joint and continued efforts in finding and protecting people in danger. Oramas Rivero stressed that the authorities from Cuba and United States are already in the process of collaborating on search and rescue efforts for over 20 years.

The successful collaboration of both countries led to the establishment of procedural and operational frameworks for emergency cases in 2014. Jeffrey DeLaurentis also highlighted the importance of perfecting the efforts because of the authorized trade and the flow of travelers in both countries.