Safeguarding our lifelines, Securing our society
Symposium
Date: Tuesday June 16th 2015
Time: 16:00 to 20:00
Venue: Provinciaal Hof (Provincial Palace), Markt 3, Bruges
“Mediterranean Sea, 16 June 2020: A Belgian frigate and two mine hunters tower high above the blue water. After terrorist groups threatened with attacks against tanker ships, the EU decided to deploy a maritime task force to scan the area around the Suez Canal for explosives.
The sea is calm and people stroll along the waterfront. But suddenly, a huge blast sets the sea ablaze. A liquid natural gas tanker that readied to exit the Suez Canal, on its way to Zeebrugge, is literally blown apart. Within a few minutes, stock markets in Europe nosedive and energy prices skyrocket. How could this happen, even after the area was declared safe?
Patrolling close to shore, the frigate spots a suspicious motorboat speeding away in the direction of Port Said. Instantly, a helicopter takes off to stop the boat, while a special team prepares to board it. Almost at the same time, the message arrives that an unidentified freighter has been observed dropping several objects in the water while leaving the port. Immediately both mine hunters are tasked to localize and investigate the objects, while the frigate prepares a second boarding team to intercept and inspect the cargo vessel”.
Science fiction? Luckily, yes, at least for the time being. But can we take for granted that this will remain the case?
Last year, ISIS made it clear that it will try to attack merchant ships that navigate between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean. It certainly has the knowhow and with so many small fishing boats in the area, it is easy to equip them unnoticed. In other words: if the intention is there and our intelligence would fail, nobody can guarantee that this will never happen.
Our ports are separated from those in Eastern Asia by 10,000 miles of instability. The failure to provide protection along this corridor, we are convinced, could damage our national economy, the European economy, and our security in general.
Therefore we would like to offer a debate on the acuity of maritime challenges and on the kind of capabilities that are needed to tackle them. We gladly invite you to attend our symposium, to become more familiar with the role of navies. This high-level symposium will take place in Bruges on 16 June and will give us the opportunity to discuss the options for smaller navies, like the Belgian Navy, to defend the interests of their nations and international partnerships more effectively.
| 16:00 – 17:00 | Registration and networking cocktail | |
| 17:00 | Welcome words | Rear Admiral Georges Heeren, Commander Belgian Naval Component & Deputy ABNL |
| Keynote speech | Prof. Eric Grove, British naval historian and defense analyst, Liverpool Hope University | |
| Discussion | Moderator:
Prof. Jonathan Holslag, University of Brussels (VUB) Panelists: Ambassador François de Kerchove d’Exaerde, Belgian Permanent Representative to NATO Vice-admiral Charles-Henri du Ché, Deputy Director General for International relations and Strategy (French Ministery of Defence) Rear Admiral Jürgen Ehle, Chairman of the EU Military Committee Working Group Mr Theo Van De Kerckhove, COO DEME, Belgian Shipping Industry |
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| 18:50 | Closing address
Closing remarks |
Mr Steven Vandeput, Minister of Defence
Prof. Louis le Hardÿ de Beaulieu, President of the Royal Belgian Marine Society |
| 19:00 – 20:00 | Reception |
Our partners for this event: