The 8th Symposium of the Heads of Navies and Coastguards in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) was held from 27 – 28 November 2024 in Abuja under the auspices of the Nigerian Navy and in partnership with the European Union and the French Navy. The conference centred on the theme of “Maritime Security and Sustainable Development in the Gulf of Guinea”.
The annual forum provides a platform for the Heads of Navies and Coastguards in the GoG to deliberate on common maritime security issues and joint efforts to address them. The Yaoundé Code of Conduct and the operationalisation of the Architecture remains at the core of it. This year’s Symposium hosted by the Nigerian Navy was supported through the EU funded project EnMAR. The approximately 200 participants included representatives of the GoG countries, heads of the Yaoundé Architecture regional maritime coordination centres, representatives from European navies and the US, as well as the regional institutions, ECOWAS and the GoG Commission. The discussions centred on three thematic strategic areas: Regional and International Cooperation, Maritime Domain Awareness and Information Sharing, as well as Legal and Regulatory Frameworks.
EU Ambassador Gautier Mignot took part in the first strategy session on Regional and International Cooperation for Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea. He highlighted that maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea is of shared interest and outlined the EU’s integrated approach to tackle maritime threats.
The outcomes of the Symposium 2024 were captured in a final Communique by the Heads of Navies and Coastguards, stating 14 resolutions that included the shared commitment to strengthen the governance structure of the Yaoundé Code of Conduct for improved maritime security and development in the Gulf of Guinea. The next edition of the Symposium is scheduled to take place in Dakar, Senegal in November 2025.
