May 04 - European Association Of Airport And Seaport Police Chairman's Opening Address
Gibraltar was host to the 44th annual European Association of Airport and Seaport Police this week.
An introduction to the two-day event was held at the Rock Hotel, followed by a reception held by Her Worship the Mayor Kaiane Lopez and will culminate in a dinner held at the St Michael’s Cave tonight.
Peter van den Berg, Chief Superintendent and President of the European Association of Airport and Seaport Police opened the conference in the Rock Hotel yesterday morning.
Here is his full address:
Your Excellency, dear Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen.
On behalf of the European Association of Airport and Seaport Police I welcome you to our 44th Annual Conference here in Gibraltar.
In particular, I am honoured to welcome:
1. His Excellency the Governor of Gibraltar
Lieutenant General Edward Davis, CB, CBE
2. Chief Minister of Gibraltar, The Honourable Fabian Picardo QC,
It is an honor that you are attending the conference and we hope that you will find the content interesting and informative.
My name is Peter van den Berg from Holland and I am the current President of the EAASP. It is a great pleasure and an honor for me to stand here before such distinguished guests as President of the Association.
I would like to extend special thanks to the Government of Gibraltar who have given tremendous support to our organisation.
I especially wish to thank Commissioner Eddie Yome CPM and Collector of Customs, John Rodriguez for their magnificent support, help and assistance whilst organising this conference.
This is the third time that the EAASP has held their conference in Gibraltar and we have always had a warm welcome.
I would like to welcome our speakers, delegates and partners who I hope will enjoy their time in beautiful Gibraltar.
Ladies and Gentlemen, why are we here today? Our 44th Annual conference has the aim of:
“Developing a flexible and agile security capability that protects our ports in a changing environment”
The overall vision of the European Association is “to make European Ports and airports the safest ports in the World”. This is a very significant mission for any organisation.
The Executive Committee of the Association is confident that we can fully play our part in delivering this, as our mission is “working in Partnership through the shared exchange of knowledge”.
Indeed, we firmly believe that the local, national and international exchange of information is a fundamental element of a co-ordinated European and global effort to enhance the safety of our transport infrastructure.
I’m proud to say that the European Association has made excellent progress in its efforts to deliver this objective and to build on its reputation as an international organisation, offering professional expertise in European Port policing by exchanging information, knowledge, best practice and by developing close co-operation with European and international partners.
Disregard for fundamental human rights and the abuse of the freedom of movement within the European Union and elsewhere presents a major challenge for our policy makers and for law enforcement as we strive to protect our society, our businesses and our families. Border protection is an enormous challenge, which is under daily pressure with the creation of new and sensitive routes to and from our ports.
That is why today, more than ever, we must maintain our vigilance, stay alert at all times to identify and combat what I call “the silent killer”, meaning those terrorist activists and sympathisers who silently target their new potential victims. Let’s not forget that in most terrorist attacks they will carefully prepare for their horrific mission.
Today, it is clear that we face varied threats from many terrorist groups. There is no bigger danger however than complacency, or “sleepwalking” towards the next catastrophe.
Although the most obvious and visible symbol of the cruel attacks in the United States of America were the horrific images of two aircraft flying into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre, I must emphasise to those of us involved in the maritime world: don’t be so unwise or naïve to think it would not be possible for terrorists to utilise or attack maritime assets to cause catastrophic loss of life or economic damage.
In essence, we can no longer ignore the unthinkable or the impossible. The attacks in Paris, Brussels, Germany, Sweden and many other nations should be our guidance upon which we determine our hard and soft security considerations.
We have to prepare and be prepared for the unexpected!
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to underline that when we look across the world today, it encourages me that many individuals, national and international organisations area making an enormous effort in respect of security, countering terrorism, crime and illegal immigration, in order to protect our society.
What I fear is that often many of these initiatives are taken in isolation. So therefore, we strongly advocate European and international cooperation, and that is what we are here for.
The threat to our infrastructure, ports, cargo, passengers, aircraft and ships is high with an attack in many countries being highly likely.
The EAASP strongly believes that the exchange of information, raising awareness and sharing knowledge is essential to secure our borders and present a tangible barrier to criminals and terrorists.
Together we can be stronger and make great achievements. The EAASP is ready to cooperate with all organisations that defend our democracy, that defend human rights and rule of law to protect our society.
I like to emphasis that this conference in the context of current events, is very timely. I am sure this conference will help make European’s ports safer.
Ladies and gentlemen I wish to thank the Executive Committee for their hard work and know that you have a very good productive two days ahead of you.
Thank you all, for coming here together to collectively develop and improve our joint capability to protect the lives and livelihoods of all our people.
Thank You
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