EUCAP Nestor and Indian Ocean Commission enhance collaboration |14 February 2015

The signing of a memorandum of understanding between the EUCAP Nestor and Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) earlier this week will further enhance the mutual collaboration namely in  information-sharing as well as other types of mutual support.

EUCAP Nestor head of country office Bo Holtse and the IOC secretary general Jean-Claude de L’Estrac signed the document on Monday at the EUCAP Nestor country office at Takamaka Building on Revolution Avenue.

This was in the presence of African Union (AU) and European Union (EU) delegates attending the AU ministerial meeting on maritime security which took place here last weekend. Also present at the ceremony were the British high commissioner Lindsay Skoll and the French ambassador Genevieve Iancu.

Mr Holtse expressed satisfaction following the signing of the agreement noting that it will formalise the structure in place so as to better provide help for the region and support their activities and operations in Somalia.

“We use our facilities and resources to contribute in training and other activities that are relevant to your agencies and that of EUCAP Nestor and the agreement formalises this process,” Mr Holtse said.

For his part Mr de L’Estrac noted that the agreement is about formalising an existing relationship between the EUCAP Nestor and the IOC.

“For the past few days we have been talking a lot about coordinating and being focussed because we have the same mission and we need to work closer together, something we have been doing over the last few years but the agreement  will strengthen that,” Mr de L’Estrac said.  

EUCAP Nestor is a civilian EU mission, under the Common Security and Defence Policy, which assists countries in the Horn of Africa and the Western Indian Ocean in strengthening their capacity to ensure maritime security and in particular to fight piracy.