States in the Gulf Region to team up for maritime security

Countries along the Gulf of Guinea coast have agreed to establish a combined military force to boost the monitoring and protection of the maritime territory, a Ghanaian official said here Wednesday.

“We have agreed, particularly in the Gulf of Guinea, to do the combined maritime task force coupled with information sharing to coordinate patrols to ensure that our waters are safe to protect the huge investments in the ocean,” said Issah Adam Yakubu, chief of naval staff of the Ghana Navy, said in an interview during the third International Maritime Defense Exhibition and Conference (IMDEC) in Accra, the capital of Ghana.

Kofi Amankwa-Manu, Ghana’s deputy defense minister, lauded the many good ideas proposed during the conference, saying that if executed, they could significantly promote a safe and secure maritime domain for the blue economy of Ghana and the entire Gulf of Guinea to thrive.

The two-day IMDEC, which concluded on Wednesday, sought to take stock of law enforcement activities in the gulf over the past year and develop strategies for future protection of the maritime domain.