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18 October 2017

Meeting of chiefs of staff, 18th October 2017

The 18th October 2017, Chief of the French Defense Staff, the General Francois Lecointre, in Paris, Chiefs of Staff of the state member of the 5+5 initiative

This meeting falls within a political and a tremendous operational sequence with, notably the naval exercise Sea Border held from the 2nd to the 6th October offshore Toulon. During the introductory speech, the General Lecointre underlined the importance of the dialogue established by this initiative in context where threats continue, more specifically the terrorist one, and the one generated by the migratory pressure: "I know and I welcome the efforts needed by each of our country, to combat theses phenomena in a coordinated manner […] the 5+5 initiative contributes to this fight to live, between us, in practical and realistic cooperation ".

Since its creation thirteen years ago, the 5+5 defense comprises the enclosure the most active in terms of the multilateral cooperation of security and defense in the eastern Mediterranean. This new meeting allowed CEMA and their counterparts to return to the huge achievement which reflects the solid operational advances of this forum. Also, during the first round table, they evoked challenges related to control the Mediterranean water space highlighting the importance to capitalize on the exercises like Sea Border to improve their cooperation. Then, during the second round table CEMA returned to the projects allowing the operationalization of 5+5 like the implementation of the Operative Planning and Coordination Center (CCPO), the improvement and information exchanges.

This meeting ended by the signature of a joint declaration by which the CEMAs were engaged to continue and deepen the initiatives launched to reinforce the Mediterranean partnership.