Mission and objectives

Maritime safety and security, a strategic issue

Maritime safety and security, which is both an international obligation and a necessity for economic and social development, is a strategic issue for States. Each State must therefore know and monitor its maritime areas of interest and be ready to intervene.

In response to the threats to their maritime security, the Heads of State of the Central and West African Economic Communities signed the Yaoundé Declaration and Code of Conduct in June 2013. These States are committed to strengthening cooperation, coordination, mutualisation and interoperability of their resources, based on an interregional organisation: the Yaoundé Architecture.

The GoGIN+ project: a European contribution

Since 2014, the European Union has been deploying a wide range of actions to support the operationalisation of the Yaoundé Architecture (YA) and the maritime strategies of the Gulf of Guinea countries and economic communities (ECOWAS and ECCAS).

The GoGIN (Gulf of Guinea Interregional Network) project (2016 to 2021) was initiated in this context to support the creation of a network between the maritime centres in the region, by developing the YARIS platform.  As an extension, GoGIN+ is continuing the deployment and use of YARIS amongst the stakeholders and Member States of the YA.

Activities

The GoGIN+ project concentrates on the deployment of the YARIS platform, and supports its use by all the maritime centres of the Yaoundé Architecture countries. This is accomplished through activities in the following areas:

• Training: the project develops teaching materials and delivers training on the principles of Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) and the implementation of the different functionalities of the YARIS platform (these training sessions involve trainers from GoGIN+, CRESMAO, CRESMAC and ICC) ;
• Support for operationalisation: the project supports the Yaoundé Architecture Centres in the use of YARIS and the organisation of activities to enable operation of this tool ;
• IT development: in close coordination with the Yaoundé Architecture and based on the needs identified by users, the YARIS platform is being updated to improve its usability and functionality;
• Promotion of its use: the project supports the deployment and use of YARIS in exercises or training by members of the Architecture and their international partners;
• Preparation for the transfer of ownership: the project contributes to the preparations for the transfer of ownership of the YARIS platform to the Yaoundé Architecture.