EU Ambassadors visit EU NAVFOR in the area of operations

Oct 12, 2009 - 15:09
On sunday 11 october the Ambassadors of the Political and Security Committee (PSC) of the European Union visited the European Union Naval Force under the Security and Defence Policy, the first Naval operation under ESDP.

The visit was hosted onboard the EU NAVFOR German warship KARLSRUHE in the port of Djibouti at the invitation of the EU NAVFOR Force Commander Commodore Pieter Bindt. In his Brief to the Brussels Delegation the Dutch Force Commander gave an overview of the operational tasks and the challenges they faced daily. He went on to explain the considerable achievements to date and how well the different nations' ships were working together.

The Director General European Union Military Staff, General David Leaky, expressed his delight at the success of the visit. "It is really important to show the Ambassadors, what the EU NAVFOR has achieved so far. The brief from the Force Commander and the Commanding Officer of the frigate Karlsruhe gave them a lasting impression of the success of EU NAVFOR mission"

The Head of Department and Representative for Sweden to the PSC, Olof Skoog stated, "the EU was able to position the EU NAVFOR Mission in the Centre of all anti-Piracy activities".

The Delegation were particularly interested in the maritime assets that have been used so far in the Gulf of Aden and the Somali basin down to the Seychelles.  After visiting Karlsruhe they were given the opportunity to see the Maritme Patrol Aircraft in the Air Detachement. Ambassador Skoog was extremely impressed by the Cooperation between all units and their capabilities to deter and prevent piracy along the Somali coastline.

EU NAVFOR Force Commander Commodore Pieter Bindt was pleased with the meetings and stated: “As Force Commander I consider it an honour and great benefit to inform the political deciding and guiding Committee of Operation Atalanta in progress, developments and results after 10 months of EU NAVFOR operations”.

 

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