EU NAVFOR Force Commander Gets Acquainted With Key Leaders in Bossasso

Bossasso, 19 August 2019—This week, EU NAVFOR Somalia Operation Atalanta Force Commander Rear Admiral Armando Paolo Simi met with various key leaders in Bossasso.

Among the authorities with whom R. Adm. Simi met were representatives from the Puntland Ministry of Maritime Transport, Ports and Maritime Crime Prevention, EU NAVFOR sister mission EUCAP Somalia, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (UN FAO), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the Puntland Maritime Police Forces (PMPF) and the Bossasso Port Maritime Police Unit (BP-MPU).

The aim of the meetings was to get the new Force Commander acquainted with The Minister of Maritime Transport, Ports and Maritime Crime Prevention, Mohamed Abdi Osman, and to continue the existing relationship between EU NAVFOR and Puntland authorities. Meanwhile, the crew on board the ITS Marceglia provided local maritime capacity building training to the BP-MPU.

R. Adm. Simi expressed appreciation for the close cooperation EU NAVFOR and its sister missions share with Puntland authorities and acknowledged the essential role that they play in the fight against piracy and other forms of maritime crime.