Venice Regional Seapower Symposium Final Recommendations

Transcription

1 Venice Regional Seapower Symposium 2012 Final Recommendations PREAMBLE 50 Delegations from Navies, Naval services and International Organizations convened in Venice, from the 17 th to the 18 th of October 2012, to attend the Ninth edition of the Venice Regional Seapower Symposium (VRSS) for the Navies of the Mediterranean and Black Sea Countries, whose main theme was: From traditional roles to emerging maritime security challenges: Naval Forces improved effectiveness in a demanding environment. The participating Delegates, representing 39 Countries 1 and International Organizations 2, had a very fruitful discussion which was articulated in three panels, analyzing the main theme under different perspectives. The debate identified a common understanding about the central role of Navies and Maritime Services for the achieving of Maritime Security and related enforcement, as well as the importance of the traditional roles of the Navies, in the current and foreseeable scenario. The most important findings of the Symposium and the shared final recommendations are summarized in this document. 1 Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Djibouti, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Mauritania, Montenegro, Morocco, Nederland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Senegal, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and Unites States of America. 2 E.U. Military Staff, E.U. DG Mare, JFC Naples, International Maritime Organization, MARICOGECAP, FINCANTIERI, FINMECCANICA, United States Coast Guard, COMSIXTHFLEET, Ministero Affari Esteri (ITA MFA). 1

2 AGREED FINDINGS Recent operational experiences confirmed the need to maintain the whole spectrum of capabilities available in future Navies inventory, since they may be called at any time to deliver traditional tasks. Besides, such core traditional capabilities are vital to accomplish Navies main mission, that is defending Country s sovereignty and safeguard the freedom of the seas as a common contribution to global welfare and economy. Developments in the globalization era heavily relies on the exploitation of the Maritime Domain, therefore the pursuit of Maritime Security stands as Navies main enduring task. Events in the maritime domain are interdependent, interrelated and crossed-border by nature, furthermore what happens in the maritime domain influences events on land and vice versa. This requires, in order to tackle current threats, a common inclusive and comprehensive approach, that sometimes implies maritime forces to be employed far from the sea. For these reasons, flexibility and comprehensiveness should reside at the foundation of our strategies and, together with modularity, multipurpose and extended operational availability, must reflect themselves in the shape of new ships. MSOs base their effectiveness on interoperability, cooperation and training: successful initiatives already exist, such as Pooling & Sharing or Smart Defence and within the framework of NATO Standing Elements, and need to be properly sustained and promoted. On the other hand, a lack of legal frameworks, which are indeed essential to achieve an effective Maritime Security, is still present and needs to be filled through a proactive and collective effort which must involve all maritime stakeholders. MSA must be based on a strong interagency effort since it is far beyond that a simple monitoring of the situation. This requires all different national actors to work side by side in a coordinated manner. Such a effort should include, at national level, the creation of a joint MSA structure, where representatives of involved Agencies shall facilitate the 2

3 achievement of a common layer of maritime knowledge. The same structure should constitute the interface to larger MSA networks established at regional level. In a few words any effort should be undertaken by Navies and Maritime Organizations to achieve an effective information sharing environment and to improve collaboration in the MSA field. Navies and Maritime Forces have an intrinsic capability to support Capacity Building. The inherent flexibility of maritime deployable, scalable and multi-role forces is the added value to this aspect of Maritime Security. All the Maritime Community should closely liaise to achieve mutual-confidence and mutual common understanding. Navies and Maritime Forces are the main providers of Maritime Security, in support of and not hampering single stakeholders competencies, due to the availability of flexible and adequate tools and the ability to use them appropriately. To this regard, EU Navies are willing to support and highlight this specific and peculiar role within the next draft of European Maritime Security Strategy. Shrinking defense budgets are a growing concern given the consolidate tendency to reduce public expenditures. This process can be mitigated by sponsoring common initiatives, managed by International Organizations, optimizing cost sharing, enhancing the overall effectiveness and avoiding duplications. Ships are Navies Raison d'être, the tool which allow us to meet our objectives. This underline the need to shape our means accordingly with present and future challenges. Modularity and dual usability are strategic enablers which allows to adapt ships capabilities over their operational life. In this sense, working closely with the industry is a fruitful way to build new ships with adaptability considered at start. New platforms must privilege the capability of integrating dedicated payloads and systems (e.g. UAV s, UUV s) for specific missions. Alongside this budget saving solutions, and having in mind what stated above, high-end platforms should not be dismissed. Personnel is Navies soul and the greatest strategic resource. For this reason new generations sailors and civil servants need to be properly nurtured to better cope with 3

4 future challenges, shaping their attitude towards open mind, flexibility, cooperation, diplomacy and leadership. RECOMMENDATIONS Following the above mentioned topics, the subsequent main headings have been identified as the most appropriate recommendations to meet effective results in enhancing Navies effectiveness and fostering multinational and interagency collaboration for the sake of Maritime Surveillance & Security: a. Maritime Security is the Navies main enduring task. All Navies should orient their efforts to develop a consolidated mindset together with a wide and complete range of available means. b. Maritime Situational Awareness requires a cohesive approach which should rely on the largest collaboration possible. In this sense, the existence of national interagency MSA Centers, acting as data fusion and national point of contact, could effectively help in meeting the objective. States and International Organizations should encourage this approach as the most effective to avoid redundancies, save resources and generate the most complete MSA. c. Comprehensive Approach is critical in today s landscape to achieve effective results. Navies and Maritime Forces should promote inter-sectoral dialogue, while International Organizations should consider Navies and Maritime Forces as a Resources Multiplier with regard to Maritime Security as well as Maritime Safety. d. Dialogue and Cooperation binomial confirms its effectiveness as Maritime Security enabler and crisis prevention. e. Current scenario demands for a full range of capabilities. Therefore Traditional Navies Roles are not to be neglected, retaining their full validity in Navies portfolio. Industries, Navies and Maritime Forces should improve dialogue to better implement flexibility and adaptability as the driving factors for the ongoing innovation process. 4

5 f. A solid and effective Legal Framework is mandatory for any successful security program. To this purpose we have to continue promoting, towards our respective national Authorities and the reference international bodies, the adoption of effective measures. g. Shaping our people, beyond education and training, is paramount. A sound cooperation should be taken to build the right mindset and organizational culture. In conclusion, while framing the future maritime capabilities, three critical elements for innovating Navies the so called triple A - should be taken into consideration: Naval Forces must be Active (or Available as well), Adaptive and Affordable. 5