Sergey Chirkov, Chairman of the Social Fund and Dmitry Bakanov General Director of Roscosmos, signed a cooperation agreement. The document reaffirms the partnership between the two agencies in implementing joint projects and developing social welfare for aerospace industry workers.
One of the key services the Social Fund provides for cosmonauts and test pilots today is the assignment of a government length-of-service pension. It is awarded for flight operations and other activities related to the development and operation of space machinery.
The agreement will set up additional structural mechanisms for effective handling of these and other issues. In particular, it will set up a legal basis for developing online interactions allowing for the advance retrieval of the information required to assign pensions to Roscosmos employees.
The agreement envisions setting up working groups of Roscosmos and Social Fund representatives. Their work will be focused on developing solutions to current social welfare issues and optimizing the application of existing legal norms to the industry workers.
"The aerospace industry has been a pride for our country for decades. We are happy that we now have the opportunity to develop cooperation in this industry with its leading organization. I am positive that the agreements reached today will enable us to implement joint initiatives and new projects focused on supporting industry workers," said Sergey Chirkov, Chairman of the Social Fund of Russia, on signing the agreement.
A special focus is on informing industry workers about their pension rights and social benefits. The parties plan to develop educational content for joint awareness campaigns.
The partnership will also cover working through issues regarding all types of insurance and social services provided by the Social Fund of Russia, allowing for a comprehensive approach to raising the level of social guarantees.