Rear Admiral Christian Canova, Deputy Commander of EU NAVFOR, visited the United States Navy Base Naples, home of the Command, US Naval Forces Africa (USNAVAF) and the 6th Fleet on 19 October 2011.
Rear Admiral James L. Foggo III, Deputy Commander 6th Fleet and Chief of Staff of USNAVAF, welcomed the Deputy Commander EU NAVFOR for this first contact between Operation ATALANTA and the US Command responsible for the US Naval Forces in the Southern Indian Ocean. During the visit the US Operations team briefed the work performed by USNAVAF within the Africa Partnership Station (APS) program which is dedicated to improve the skills and capabilities of the African navies, with the very positive effects this could have in the fight against piracy.
In his briefing to the senior officers of USNAVAF, Rear Admiral Canova promoted a closer relationship between both headquarters, wishing the 6th Fleet a “warm welcome to the club of people fighting piracy”, as a result of the recent spread of pirate attacks into the South of the Indian Ocean. There is no doubt that the complementary skills of both Naval organizations, at sea and ashore for Regional Capacity Building, will lead to closer contacts in the near future between both organizations.