On Thursday, Simon Church, EU NAVFOR’s special advisor on Industry Relations briefed EU Commission’s DG MOVE at the Stakeholders Advisory Group for Maritime Security. He outlined Operation Atalanta’s recent activity and provided a full threat assessment on the state of piracy and other maritime security threats off the Horn of Africa.
The attendees were made up of the 28 European Union Member States representing their governments’ departments of transport or the equivalent department. In addition, there were a number of International and Non-governmental organisations present at the meeting.
EU NAVFOR answered questions about the recent reduction of the High-Risk Area off the Horn of Africa. They also discussed how EU NAVFOR and the Maritime Security Centre Horn of Africa (MSCHOA) in Brest, France work in partnership with the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) to support the Shipping Industry through the distribution of Industry-Releasable Threat Assessments (IRTAs).
The meeting was chaired by the Director General of MOVE.