February 22 2012 -- President James Michel has met with the Commander of EUNAVFOR, Rear Admiral Duncan Potts, at the Northwood Headquarters during his official visit to the UK.
President James Michel has expressed his appreciation of the role of the EU Naval Forces in preventing piracy attacks in the Indian Ocean as well as assisting merchant ships in adopting measures of best practice for protection against attacks.

" The EU Naval Forces are successfully disrupting a large number of piracy attacks. This is highly commendable and has benefited Seychelles greatly, as we are on the forefront of the fight against piracy. Our military cooperation with EU forces has been exemplary as many of the Seychelles successful anti-piracy missions have been joint operations with EUNAVFOR. We are grateful for this assistance and count on the continued support of our partners," said President Michel.

During the visit to the Northwood Headquarters the President was updated on the EU NAVFOR mission and counter-piracy as part of the preparations for the Somalia Conference later this week.

As part of the briefing, Rear Admiral Potts commented "The briefing and discussion today has been an excellent opportunity for me to actively engage with the countries which border the area of operations to ensure that there is a common understanding of the issues as we develop our tactics to better tackle the problem of piracy at sea."

The President was accompanied on the visit  by the Minister for Home Affairs, Environment, Transport and Energy, Joel Morgan, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Seychelles, Dr Rolph Payet as well as the British High Commissioner to Seychelles, Matthew Forbes.

The Ugandan Minister of Defence, the Hon Crispus Kiyonga and Commander Land Forces Lt. Gen. Katuma Wamala, as well as the Tanzanian Head of Intelligence, Maj. Gen. Paul Mella also took part in the the visit.


Editor's Note

-    EU NAVFOR Somalia is a counter-piracy taskforce operating in the area of the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean responsible for deterring, preventing and repressing acts of piracy, for the safe escort of ships carrying humanitarian aid of the World Food Program and vessels of African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and to protect other vulnerable vessels. Additionally, EU NAVFOR also monitors fishing activity off the coast of Somalia