The MARCOM delegation had the opportunity to visit the Alexandria naval base and was hosted by the Base Commander, Rear Admiral Ayman El Daly. Following a visit to ENS Anwar El Sadat, Egyptian Navy amphibious assault ship of the Mistral-class, the delegation presented to a wide audience of Egyptian Navy officers on NATO's Partnerships and Operation Sea Guardia followed by a productive questions and answers session.
Egypt and NATO share common interests in the Maritime Domain, namely Maritime
Awareness and Understanding as well Security and Freedom of Navigation," said Commodore Diogo Arroteia on the occasion. For this reason, I believe that Operation Sea Guardian is an important cornerstone of our partnership and information sharing will be pivotal.
Commodore Diogo Arroteia (PRT N) met Vice Admiral Ahmed Khaled, Commander In Chief of the Egyptian Navy.
This Focused Operation was marked by the 5th anniversary of Operation Sea Guardian. 9th November 2016 saw the first ship operating under Operation Sea Guardian.
In parallel with this visit, NATO's task group led by the Greek flagship, frigate HS Spetsai supported by the Bulgarian frigate BGS Drazki, visited Alexandria and exercised with the Egyptian Navy to improve interoperability and achieve better mutual understanding of the maritime domain.
On completion of the port visit to Alexandria and to conclude the 6th Focused patrol of the year, the NATO task group performed a passage exercise with ENS Toshka and ENS S. Ezzat off the coast of Alexandria. Egyptian and NATO naval units practiced maneuvers and procedures,to increase crew proficiency and unit interoperability for overall improvement of regional maritime situational awareness.
"This Task Group, supported by submarines and maritime patrol aircrafts has patrolled vast areas in the Eastern Mediterranean for approx. 20 days," said Captain Panagiotis Karavas (HEL N), Task Group Commander. "It was a very challenging program but very rewarding. While contributing to maritime situational awareness efforts, we had the opportunity to meet, train and exercise with our partners Israel and Egypt, increasing our crews' interoperability skills".
Between November 17 and 18 and respecting Covid precautionary measures, the Hellenic Navy deployed a Mobile Training Team (MTT) to conduct training focused on regional maritime capacity building. The NATO team has conducted basic training on boarding operations including tactics and procedures to improve regional maritime security. NATO is committed to work with partner Nations, exploring new training opportunities to strengthen the cooperation between NATO and Egyptian Navies and thus contributing to Regional Maritime Security and Capacity Building in the region.