A delegation of Operation EUNAVFOR MED IRINI visited Washington DC and New York
Last week, a delegation of Operation EUNAVFOR MED IRINI, led by the OPCDR, Rear Admiral Fabio Agostini, visited the United States of America for working meetings in Washington DC and New York.
In Washington, the OPCDR had the opportunity to meet US representatives of the Department of Defence and Department of State as well as the Head of EUDEL US and the representatives of the EU 27 at the EU Delegation. The Operation Commander was also received by the Italian Ambassador in the US. The meetings with the US representatives were held in a very positive and fruitful atmosphere. The talks mainly focussed on the overall situation in the Central Mediterranean Sea, explaining IRINI’s tasks describing the results achieved and on the need to establish a fruitful cooperation with US Commands in the area. The US counterparts shared the Commander’s assessment of the overall strategic and security situation in and around Libya given the fact that both players are stakeholders in the same geographic area.
The meeting with the EU representatives, as well as the one with the Italian Ambassador, were useful to provide an update on Operation IRINI state of play and to reiterate that the Operation continues to be important and has achieved relevant results in a balanced, impartial and effective way.
In New York, the OPCDR met the Indian Permanent Representative to the UN and Chairman of the UN Sanctions Committee on Libya, Ambassador T.S. Tirumurti, the Permanent Representative of Libyan Mission to UN, Ambassador Taher Al-Sunni, and the representatives of EUDEL New York as well as representatives of Estonia (EE), France (FR), Ireland (IE) and Germany (DE) at the UN, and separately the Italian Ambassador at the UN. The very fruitful discussions with Ambassador T.S. Tirumurti mainly focussed on the results of the Operation and the cooperation with the United Nations’ relevant bodies. During the frank and open talks with Ambassador Taher Al-Sunni, there was an interesting exchange of point of views about the situation in Libya. The Operation Commander could inform about the results of the Operation in the implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions and discuss about the possibility to resume the training of the Libyan Coast Guard and Navy.
The meeting with the representatives of EUDEL, EE, FR, IE, DE and IT was useful to provide an update on Operation IRINI state of play and main results. In this context the OPCDR thanked EE and FR for the excellent job done – as pen holder – in the context of the yearly renewal of UN Security Council Resolution 2292 that provides the legal framework for Operation IRINI arms embargo task.
