On Wednesday 8 December 2015, Operation Atalanta’s flagship, ITS Carabiniere hosted members of the Japanese Escort Division 3 during a port visit to Salalah.

Force Commander, Rear Admiral Stefano Barbieri welcomed onboard ITS Carabiniere, Commander of the Japanese Escort Division 3, Captain Takeshi Yoshioka and Commanding Officer of JDS Suzunami, Commander Masanori Amemiya.

During the visit Captain Yoshioka said: “Japan strongly believes in the cooperation among the counter-piracy forces.  The mutual support and co-ordination at the tactical level is fundamental for a successful result and there should be more interactions at sea.”

On completion of the visit, Rear Admiral Barbieri commented: “We’ve successfully made another important step forward towards a better cooperation among the forces in the area against Somali piracy.”