Bad start to Atlasur as two Uruguayan navy ships collide

May 19, 2008
Author: P&S

Atlasur, the latest naval exercise to take place off the Cape coast and involving ships of Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and South Africa got off to a bad start late last week when two Uruguayan vessels, ROU Uruguay and ROU Comandante Pedro Campbell collided at sea.

Details of the accident have not been made officially available but it appears both ship suffered sufficient damage while en route to Simon’s Town from Portugal. Both ships have since entered Simon’s Town and will undergo repairs.

Atlasur is taking place from 16 May until 2 June.


EXERCISE IBSAMAR WRAPS UP

Meanwhile the navies of India, Brazil and South Africa have concluded the first joint naval Exercise Ibsamar which was held between 5 and 16 May. The purpose of the exercise was to strengthen ties and cohesion between the navies of the three countries which have formed stronger economic, trade and political links.

During the course of the exercise India’s External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukjerjee and Brazil’s Minister of External relations Celso Amorim travelled to Cape Town to take part in a one-day commission meeting held at Somerset West with South Africa’s Foreign Minister Nkosanzana Dlamini Zuma.

Among the issues under discussion were Global Governance, the Millennium Development Goals, International Trade, Intellectual Property Rights, Climate Change, Biodiversity, Sustainable Development, Racism and Xenophobia, Gender, Disarmament and Non-proliferation, Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy, and regional political issues of global significance.

At the previous IBSA Summit held in 2007 the three countries set goals of increasing IBSA intra trade to USD 15 Billion by 2010.

The next IBSA Summit is due to be held in New Delhi on 15 October 2008.