Mrs Sylvie Tabesse's speech for a more secured maritime domain

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Mrs Sylvie Tabesse's speech for a more secured maritime domain

09.02.2023 Press and information team of the Delegation to DJIBOUTI

H.E.Mrs Sylvie Tabesse adressed a speech during the delivery of certificates to the newly IORIS platform graduted after a training session with the CRIMARIO project team at the Djiboutian Coast Gards headquater.

DearLtCol Mohamed Adawa Mohamed, acting commander of Djibouti Coast Guard, Dear colleagues and course participants,

I am honored to present a few concluding remarks after the successful training on the IORIS tool, implemented through the EU funded project CRIMARIO.

First I would like to start by quoting Seneca, the famous philosopher of ancient Rome, who once said: "If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable." We, all of us, know our destination - it is a safer and more secure maritime domain.

CRIMARIO, the European Union's maritime capacity building initiative has contributed to enhance Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) through information sharing, capacity building and training, since 2015.

But in September of last year, the EU adopted a Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific that highlights the importance of the maritime dimension of the region, and its intention is to pro-actively contribute to its security. CRIMARIO is one of the flagship initiatives that the EU implements in the framework of this Indo-Pacific strategy. And this opens new avenues for EU cooperation with Peru in the maritime domain.

This success is primarily attributed to the implementation of the IORIS Platform, a communication and coordination tool for regional and multi-agency use. In its primary function, IORIS provides maritime centers with a means to plan and coordinate maritime operations, also offering command and control functions for crisis-incident management. Information Sharing Centers can use the tool to share information, whilst Information Fusion centers can not only share information and but also distribute enriched data.

IORIS users are now increasing across the Indo-Pacific as the tool is becoming more popular amongst regional actors, reaching new partners in South and Southeast Asia, the South Pacific and now Latin America. Why is this happening? It is happening because more and more partners are seeking common channels of communication, enhanced interoperability and the possibility to share a common maritime operational picture, to better coordinate maritime operations.

Djibouti has a rich maritime history and tradition, and its future is linked to the sea. And here in Djibouti, a historic, first of a kind course took place. Operators from Djibouti coast guard, Yemen maritime affairs authority, Somaliland coast guard, Puntland maritime police force and Somali maritime administration embraced IORIS and received a Foundation and an Advanced IORIS course over the last two weeks, and 2 more similar batches are to follow.

But it is now time that the IORIS Network in Horn of Africa gets activated, and regional exchanges among neighboring countries increased.

This in itself be a practical demonstration of all parties' commitment to maritime safety and security, providing information on maritime domain awareness, to all other countries in the region. This will expand the IORIS community in Eastern Africa, with the aim of interconnecting other agencies (Police, customs, ports) and more neighboring Navies and Coast Guards.

So to you, the new senior and junior IORIS graduates, you have an important role to play in the expansion of this great network, of this Community. You will determine the rate of expansion of IORIS, because you will be its users. Exploit this time, fund and effort investment to the fullest so that together we will strengthen Maritime Domain Awareness, increasing your country's contribution to the blue economy and prosperity through maritime trade.

To conclude, thanks again for inviting me to this closing ceremony here at Camp Doraleh of the Djiboutian Coast Guard. It's been an honor to be among such accomplished individuals and to be able to present my perspective of where we are going. We look forward to reinforcing our cooperation with all your agencies in this essential task.

I thank you for your attention.