Regional cooperation in action during the IMEX exercise
From 28 to 30 March, France and India conducted a three days HADR training exercise off the coast of Goa in India. This yearly IONS (Indian Ocean Naval Symposium) event gathered ships, aircrafts and helicopters from France, India, Iran and Bangladesh. It also gathered observers from most of IONS nations (Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Thailand, UAE, UK) who served as HADR Coordination Centre staff or embarked on ships. IORIS was successfully assessed as the “communication/ coordination/ operations log” tool as required by the IONS Guidelines for HADR. Its ability to be used by both civilian and military agencies in an ad hoc task force between countries that do not cooperate on a daily basis was clearly demonstrated. The possibility to add new users very quickly and to reduce the necessary bandwidth when needed were (also) very welcomed functionalities. More on IMEX.
Other Activities
Tuesdays Second Chance: 3 new editions During the 1st quarter of 2022, three editions of these lessons learnt webinars were organised: two for South Asian audiences (1 February and 15 March) and one for the Western Indian Ocean audiences (8 February). These included a new case study on Maritime Piracy which emphasised the need for coherence between international and domestic legal frameworks and the importance of regional cooperation. As always, interesting and constructive feedback was received from and exchanges with participants enhanced the learning value of the activity. Access to TSC recordings.
First visit to Southeast Asia Martin Cauchi-Inglott, Project Director, made a first field trip to Southeast Asia, visiting the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia, from 28 February to 23 March, during which had the opportunity to present CRIMARIO and its tools to various maritime agencies. All the stakeholders demonstrated a real interest in the CRIMARIO tools, especially the use of IORIS to enhance the inter-agency collaboration. The support of the EU delegations in each country was crucial to the success of the mission.
In the case of Philippines, the cooperation and presence of CRIMARIO was consolidated as detailed below.
Cooperation in action with the Philippines Martin Cauchi-Inglott, CRIMARIO Project Director, visited the Philippines from 28 February to 4 March 2022, during which he held a series of High-Level meetings with the Navy, the Coast Guard, the Marina (Maritime Industry Authority), the National Coast Watch Council (NCWC), the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquaculture (BFAR), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). All institutions expressed their willingness to intensify cooperation with CRIMARIO, with a particular focus on receiving training on the IORIS platform. The visit kicked off with participation in a webinar organised by the French Embassy on the EU’s Indo-Pacific strategy.
Weeks of training on the IORIS system for both the Philippines Navy and the Philippines Coast Guard culminated with a first CRIMARIO regional exercises involving both institutions mentioned, and the French naval frigate Vendemiaire (also trained on the IORIS system in previous weeks), on 10 March 2022. The table-top exercise dealt with addressing a drug trafficking case, with a simulated target of interest being tracked and intercepted from Latin America to Southeast Asia.
CRIMARIO will be organising more courses in the Philippines in the coming months to train the Marina, the NCWC and potentially BFAR and the Marine Police on the IORIS platform.
Upcoming events
18-22 April: SHARE.IT conference in Paris
18-23 April: IORIS Basic Course for NCWC in the Philippines
28 April: Tuesdays Second Chance: Use of Force (Western Indian Ocean edition)
25 April-6 May: IORIS Basic Course for MARINA in Philippines
10 May: Tuesdays Second Chance (South Asia edition)
16-20 May: CRIMASREX with IOC
17-19 May: DCoC High Level Meeting in Dubai
19-20 May: Participation to European Maritime Days in Ravenna
