For two days, 20 Heads of Navy, 54 international delegations and 127 distinguished guests; including General Philip Breedlove USA AF, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, will gather under the auspices of NATO’s Allied Maritime Command, to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing the maritime community in the security arena.
Namely, on Wednesday, 20 November 2013, a major conference began in central London to address significant challenges to the future of global security and in particular maritime security.
Vice Admiral Peter Hudson GBR N, Commander NATO Allied Maritime Command, and the host for this event, said: “MARCOMET is a bi-annual conference hosted by NATO to corral together commanders from the Alliance’s Navies, other Navies and other high-level stake holders. This occasion marks the first time the event will be held in London. The aim of the conference is to allow all participants to focus on addressing a number of complex challenges that Navies of the Alliance and Partner Nations face today or are likely to face in the future”.
For two days, the participants to SEA SENSE 13 will be briefed on a number of key issues ranging from current environmental and economic trends impacting on the maritime domain to the role that NATO, its Maritime Command (MARCOM), and Partners should have in dealing with future maritime security challenges. Many of these presentations will be delivered by representatives from the wider interest community of International Organisations; including, academia, think-tanks and other non-defence Governmental Organisations who have a stake in the future of global maritime environment. During the second part of the conference, Heads of Navy and other Heads of Delegations will focus on topics critical to the fleets of the Alliance and determine how to better connect national naval capabilities to the NATO Command Structure. Fleet Commanders will also discuss the importance of combining exercises, of contributing to NATO’s regional awareness and also consider the role and future of the Alliance’s Standing Naval Forces.
“Recent events show that we live in an uncertain, unpredictable and dangerous world and the sea and access to the sea will have a growing significance for all our security and stability. As a corollary of this, Maritime forces will be a central element of NATO’s renewed ‘readiness posture’, able to respond to crises as the Alliance so chooses. And in view of the broad range of topics which will be discussed, the conference’s participants will undoubtedly achieve a better understanding of the opportunities available to the maritime community to act as a force for good and give us a more nuanced appreciation of the manifold risks we now face,” said Vice-Admiral Peter Hudson.
[mappress] Press Release, November 21, 2013; Image: NATO