Invited by the Maritime Prefecture of Guinea, represented by Colonel Sow, Expertise France through GoGIN II, the project that promotes the YARIS platform and financed by the European Union, organised a training workshop on the latest version of the platform known as YARIS 2.0 from February 26th to March 8th, 2024, in Conakry, and under the patronage of the Ministry of Defense represented by its chief of staff General Boubacar Diallo.
A safe and secure maritine domaine
The first week of training focused on analysis and maritime surveillance and was aimed at executives, operational, administrative, and legal personnel from centers in charge of maritime surveillance. The second week, from March 04 to 08, 2024, was about crisis management in the case of events at sea, directed towards managers in charge of maritime safety and security.
In his opening address, Colonel Sow reminded the audience of the objectives and history of the Republic of Guinea’s partnership with the GoGIN project since the creation of the Yaoundé Architecture and congratulated the trainees for being selected to take part in this program, which he described as a strategic challenge for coastal countries in terms of maritime safety, security, and the environment. He also stressed the importance of using YARIS within the Yaoundé Architecture, which provides technical support to maritime structures in charge of combating illicit activities at sea, thus promoting the development of the blue economy in the region.
YARIS platform for operational decision-making
General Boubacar Diallo insisted on the relevance of the project, and the promotion of the YARIS platform for information sharing, improved surveillance of maritime areas, operational decision-making, and the reduction of risks and threats to the blue economy in the Gulf of Guinea.
During these two-week courses, more than thirty executives were given the knowledge they needed to configure the YARIS system to automatically detect abnormal behavior, interpret the resulting maritime picture, assess the threat, build up a database of vessels of interest, and finally establish a monitoring, control and surveillance process on target vessels. In the second phase, participants learned about crisis management in the maritime domain, by optimising the functionalities of the YARIS system, conducting activities, anticipating through data analysis, monitoring, information sharing, and compliance with operational procedures, including the legal aspects.
Trained and certified executives
At the closing ceremony, François Marty, YARIS trainer for the GoGIN project, congratulated the participants on their diligence, commitment, and interest in the new functionalities of the YARIS platform. He also expressed his gratitude to the Guinean authorities, their various agencies and services, notably the Maritime Prefecture, and the Ministry of Defense, for requesting training on YARIS 2.0 for their personnel.