Ambassador Eshete Tilahun and his team take part in the EU-Western India Ocean Maritime Security Roundtable discussion.

The European External Actions Service (EEAS) organized a roundtable meeting to discuss Maritime Security in the Western India Ocean on 28 November 2028.

Ambassadors and Senior Embassy Representatives of the Djibouti Code of Conduct (DCoC) and the Jeddah Amendment (JM) Member States in Brussels participated in this roundtable discussion on how to improve information sharing and enhancing cooperation to address threats to maritime security. Reinforcements of the community interests in the Western India Ocean in particularly those covered by the Djibouti Code of Conduct were highlighted.

During the discussion Ambassador Eshete reaffirmed Ethiopia’s commitment to ensure the objectives of the Djibouti Code of Conduct framework and underscored the importance of interlinkage between inland and maritime security threats.

In the discussion several priorities were identified, including to improve coordination, cooperation and collaboration to reinforce maritime security by streamlining information sharing, both inside the Djibouti Code of Conduct framework member states and from external partners to the region.

The Djibouti Code of Conduct (DCoC) is a regional framework for maritime cooperation, initially adopted in 2009 to combat piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Aden and the western Indian Ocean. An extension, the Jeddah Amendment, was adopted in 2017 to broaden its scope to include other illicit activities like human trafficking, illegal fishing, and maritime terrorism. The code is based on four pillars: capacity building, regional training, national legislation, and information sharing.

Ethiopia is a signatory to the Djibouti Code of Conduct (DCoC) in 2009 and Jeddah Amendment (JA) in 2017.