Allied Maritime Command Regional Cooperation and the Success of the Counter Piracy Mission Commodore Arian Minderhoud Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations Allied Maritime Command

Regional Cooperation and the Success of the Counter Piracy Mission Success of the Combined Maritime Counter Piracy Operations due to:  Deterrence presence of combined naval forces  Implementation of BMP’s by shipping industry  Use of PAST’s or VPD’s Results achieved by all stakeholders working together, CP regime build together, combined effort with measures and activities supporting each other.

However  Would be pirates and their financiers could readily obtain the means to attack  Previous ransom money appears to be invested in criminal enterprises  Root causes of piracy have not yet resolved  Countries in the region have not yet developed adequate capacity or commitment to effectively eliminate pirate groups Regional Cooperation and the Success of the Counter Piracy Mission

Conclusion:  Present situation is fragile  Risk of resurgence of Somali based piracy has not been eliminated  A few successful hijackings could change the situation  Gains and results are still reversible  CP efforts at sea and ashore remain important Regional Cooperation and the Success of the Counter Piracy Mission

NATO’s CP involvement yielded benefits beyond the disruption of pirate attacks.  Improved SA in this strategically important region  Deepen already existing relations with other nations and organisations  Deepen the relations with the merchant shipping community  Unique opportunities to work together with other maritime nations Regional Cooperation and the Success of the Counter Piracy Mission

Many lessons learned studies are being conducted as part of the discussion on the future of CP operations, including by NATO Most relevant lessons learned at the operational level are the capacity we have shown, amongst the navies present at sea, to organize a robust and coordinated military posture at sea combined with a significant involvement in institutional capacity building:  Effective coordination of naval operations (between the big 3, with independent operators, with the maritime shipping industry, with…..)  Implementation of the SHADE mechanism and close link established within the maritime community between the navies, merchant industry and the seafarers  Coordination of capacity building with the main actors (regional actors with LLE/KLE, UNODC, IMO, UKMTO, MSCHOA and ……)  Active participation to the Working Groups of the Contact Group PCS, notably WG1 dedicated to naval operations and RCB (revamped in WG 3 Maritime counter piracy and mitigations operations since January 2014). Regional Cooperation and the Success of the Counter Piracy Mission

Future  Preserve benefits post-2014  Transition from continued presence with lots of ships towards sustainable approach with on-call assets  Balanced with other priorities for NATO in its AOR  ISR, SA and involvement in CP-networks remain critical  NATO to remain engaged with IMO and Shipping Industry to ensure preservation and continuation of the BMP’s Regional Cooperation and the Success of the Counter Piracy Mission

Questions?