After attending an update briefing on the Atalanta mission, the general was accompanied on a tour of the unit that allowed him to learn about the potential of the flagship.
The visit, besides being an excellent opportunity for the force commander, rear-admiral Guido Rando, and for his staff, to summarize the results achieved after two months of deployment and to discuss the future objectives of the mission, was particularly appreciated by the crew unit under the command of vessel captain Gianfranco Annunziata, as General Smith confirmed the importance attached by the EU to the mission, underlining the central role played by naval units belonging to Operation Atalanta and their crews, not only in the optics to combat the phenomenon of piracy and the protection of the ships of the World Food Program, but also to support the numerous European initiatives, such as EUCAP NESTOR and EUTM Somalia, in order to contribute to the creation of the necessary capacities for the riparian states of the area for effectively carry out the control of the water of interest.
Source: Military Navy
