European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides visited the European Defence Agency today to exchange views and cooperation opportunities with EDA staff and top management.
The Commissioner started his visit with a meeting with EDA Chief Executive as well as the Agency’s top management, with whom he exchanged views on the EDA’s way of working, especially its role of interface with wider EU policies, as well as on current workstrands that might contribute to support Humanitarian missions and initiatives.
After the meeting, Commissioner Stylianides met with EDA project officers who briefed him on some of the Agency’s ongoing initiatives in the field of operations support, satellite communications or medical. Current EDA projects focusing on maritime surveillance, personnel recovery or airlift support to humanitarian missions were also discussed.
“A lot of activities and projects developed under the framework of the Agency have a potential dual-use role, and thus can be as useful in humanitarian missions as they are in high-intensity conflicts”, EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq commented during the visit. “As part of our close cooperation with the European Commission we stand ready to provide support in areas of dual-use capabilities and dual-use research, while at the same time enhancing the pooling and sharing of capabilities”, he added.
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