Navy ships from Italy and Tunisia recently completed the bilateral exercise Oasis 17 off the Tunisian coast.

Oasis 17 is part of several training activities carried out by the Italian Navy together with navies from northern African countries. The so called 5 + 5 maritime cooperation includes navies from the northern shores of the Mediterranean: Portugal, France, Spain, Malta and Italy and from the southern part: Mauritania, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya.

During the exercise, naval personnel from the two Mediterranean countries honed their maritime search and rescue skills and developed interoperability with joint boarding exercises.

Representing Italian Navy off the northern coast of Tunisia was the anti-submarine warfare-geared FREMM frigate ITS Alpino which was commissioned into the navy in September 2016.