[ad_1]
The defense minister said on Saturday night that the Portuguese ship Zaire, which operates in the waters of São Tomé and Príncipe, is already world famous for fighting piracy, being praised by countries like China.
João Gomes Cravinho assumed this position in a speech he gave at the end of a dinner in São Tomé, before the 26 Portuguese and 18 São Tomé from the garrison of the patrol ship, in addition to three members integrated into the Defense cooperation program.
“The Zaire ship has been in São Tomé and Príncipe for three years and the prestige of your work goes far beyond regional limits. There was an assault on a Chinese ship, you acted and Beijing expressed great appreciation,” said the head of the wallet. Defense, alluding to one of the recent and risky missions of this ship.
The main missions of Zaire, of the Portuguese Navy, are to reinforce the surveillance and inspection of the maritime spaces of São Tomé and Príncipe, maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea and the training of the coast guard of this Portuguese-speaking country.
In front of journalists, the Defense Minister highlighted the importance of the action of the ship Zaire, in a context in which there is an increase in crime in the waters of the Gulf of Guinea.
“Around 90% of piracy worldwide takes place in this expanded area and the presence of the Zaire ship in São Tomé and Príncipe has a very significant deterrent effect,” said João Gomes Cravinho.
Also according to the Defense Minister, “throughout these three years, the ship Zaire has also participated in training missions, currently the garrison is made up of Portuguese and Santo Tomé (about a third) and has also contributed to aid to ships in distress in the Gulf of Guinea. “
“The São Tomé garrison is already in rotation. Now, this means that it is not the first São Tomé to be part of the garrison. It is expected that, in the next two or three years, it will be possible to leave in São Tomé and Príncipe a a very significant mark and a high qualitative increase in terms of the capacity of the São Tomé coast guard, “he said.
Before dinner, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Admiral António Ribeiro da Silva, decorated the commander of the São Tomé coast guard, Pedro Barros, with the Cross of Saint George.
“With great pride I received this award. I took on this mission ten months ago. We have a motto: The garrison is unique, there are no differences between the Portuguese and São Tomé,” said the commander of the São Tomé and Príncipe coast guard.
To highlight the difficulty of the mission, Pedro Barros highlighted the following data: São Tomé and Príncipe has a sea 160 times larger than its land ”.
Lusa Agency
[ad_2]
