French Flagship VAR calls in Thailand

The Flagship Var

Vice Admiral Gerard Valin, French forces commander in the Indian Ocean said as one of the four replenishment and command ships of the French Navy, the Var's task is to bring logistics support to overseas deployed warships and planes.

Valin is speaking at a press conference on Wednesday at the French Embassy, on the missions of Var and those of French Joint Forces in the Indian Ocean (ALINDIEN) respectively, with the task of anti-piracy highlighted.

France promotes cooperation within the framework of international law, along with the freedom and security of maritime circulation, he said.

In this context, the missions of ALINDIEN include fighting against terrorism and maritime piracy, leading humanitarian operations that may include the evacuation of civilians, providing logistical and tactical support to actions carried out in coalition with other countries, and defense diplomacy as well, which refers to the possible bilateral cooperation with the counterpart of the ports of call.

During the past year, piracy had taken on significant proportion of five regions in the world, namely the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia, Strait of Malacca, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Guinea and the Caribbean.

ALINDIEN has achieved great successes in terms of securing the maritime areas; and all the anti-piracy operation from French Navy since 2008 have been conducted by ALINDIEN aboard the Var (360 pirates captured in total).

Aiming to improve dialogue and cooperation, the ALINDIEN will join the Thai counterpart for a rescue exercise at sea on this up-coming Saturday, Valin added.