The EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) frigate Corte-Real recently visited Port Victoria in the Seychelles to perform boat-handling training with the local Coast-Guard.
This military cooperation is seen as an important way to improve the counter-piracy capabilities of the Seychelles’ Coast-Guard. The Seychelles has an exclusive economic zone of 1.4 million km².
This training is part of a coordinated planning approach established under the supervision of Force Headquarters on board FS Marne, and is implemented by ships when visiting ports in the area of operations. This is part of EU’s comprehensive approach in the fight against piracy, and particularly of EUNAVFOR’s will to participate actively in the maritime capacity building process of regional navies and coast guards.
Corte-Real is part of the EU’s counter piracy mission – Operation “Atalanta”, off the Horn of Africa. She has an embarked helicopter and 2 boarding teams and her crew comprises 196 men and women.
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Naval Today Staff , May 17, 2012; Image: Eunavfor