Ambassador Ramis says Commandant Birot patrolling Black Sea highlights France's solidarity with allies

French Ambassador to Romania Michele Ramis said Friday in Constanta Port that the stop-over in Romania of the Commandant Birot French maritime patrol vessel, deployed in the Black Sea, represents an opportunity for joint exercises between the navies of the two countries, while highlighting France's solidarity with the NATO forces 

"The patrolling in the Black Sea of a French Navy ship, the fifth in 2019 and the third to stop over in Romania this year, once again demonstrates the strong interest expressed by France in this region. This makes France Europe's nation that is not a Black Sea riparian one to be the most present in the Black Sea in 2019. This deployment highlights (...) our solidarity with our allies and this visit to Constanta also represents an opportunity for the Romanian and French navies to conduct joint exercises and to get to know each other better while exchanging experience. These exercises are also described by the Romanian Air Force and the NATO air detachment deployed to the Mihail Kogalniceanu Base, in order to improve and vary training," said Ramis at a news conference organised in the in Constanta Port, on the docks where the Commander Birot's was moored. 

Regarding the recent NATO summit in London, Ambassador Ramis said outcome of the meeting is a positive one 

Commander of the Commandant Birot Maxime Leroy mentioned that the interoperability between the navies of France and Romania is very good. 

The Commandant Birot, deployed in the Black Sea stopped over in the Port of Constanta, December 4- 7 on regular missions to show France's solidarity with its NATO allies and to maintain the freedom of navigation on this sea, according to the French Embassy in Romania. 

According to the embassy, the French vessel's stop-over in Constanta is part of joint co-operation between the French and Romanian navies. 

The Commandant Birot's maritime patrol vessel, with a crew of 96, was initially designed to fight submarines in the near-coastal environment, but today it is a multi-role platform capable of performing missions covering the five strategic functions of the armies: deterrence, prevention, projection, protection and intelligence. The ship is also suitable for the control of air and sea spaces as part of maritime protection operations - protection of national coastal areas - as well as in all war zones. 

The Commandant Birot took part in the Harmattan and Unified Protector operations off the coast of Libya in 2011 and since then she has conducted numerous operational missions both in the Mediterranean (FRONTEX / TRITON, then SOPHIA) and the Black Sea or off the coast of West Africa and in the Atlantic Ocean (CORYMBE mission).