African Maritime Security Summit 2015

African Security: The African Maritime Security Summit

Maritime security is still at the forefront of Africa’s agenda. In recent years the transatlantic drug trade has been flourishing, with contraband being smuggled from Latin America to West Africa and from thereon, thus acting as a gateway into Europe, Asia and the Middle East. In some states, this trade has become so prevalent that it poses a big threat to government control. The escalation of maritime piracy in both the Gulf of Guinea and along the Eastern coast has also exposed limited levels of maritime domain awareness in some regions as organised criminal and militant groups operate successfully.

African states have boosted spending and defence budgets to address certain capability gaps. Their aims include increasing overall capacity, improving strategic capability and operational effect on these challenging mission types. Repairing and refurbishing existing assets has been the traditional approach to maintaining platforms and keeping up-to-date. However, more recently governments have intensified their efforts by becoming more proactive in COTS procurement and industry engagement. The ultimate ambition will be to leverage a growing economy to support indigenous industry.

In order to achieve this, AFSEC 2015 will bring together military services, chiefs of defence, diplomatic and foreign affairs professionals, law-enforcement authorities, and industry leaders from across the globe to discuss pan-African security challenges; with the primary objective of shaping future strategies and engaging with regional and international partners on these topical security matters