Maritime professionals from more than 20 maritime nations met in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, to finalize plans for Exercise Obangame Express 2015, Jan. 12, 2015.
During the four-day meeting with representatives from 13 African nations, eight European nations, the U.S. and Brazil, planners finalized exercise scenarios, defined requirements for personnel and vessels, and gained consensus on objectives of the exercise, which will be conducted in the Gulf of Guinea during March 2015.
Capt. John F. Rinko , executive director of Exercise Obangame Express 2015 stated, "The most important aspect of this meeting is finalizing the development of scenarios that support the individual country training opportunities and that appropriately enable national and the regional information sharing.”
Commodore Mark Yawson, Flag Officer Fleet, Ghana Navy made the following observation: "Obangame is quite important for our countries because maintaining maritime security and safety is essential to the social and economic development of the region. More than 80 percent of the region’s activity is conducted by sea. There is definite progress in our combined capabilities because of Obangame, and the cooperation continues throughout the year, even after the exercise ends."