“Starting with the supply of the new vehicles we received, we announce that in the coming months the Coast Guard and the ministry will procure unmanned vessels and new technology, with the aim of policing, protecting and guarding the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the marine parks. Greece is a powerful force at sea and we must constantly prove it,” the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy, Vassilis Kikilias, said during the ceremony of handing over the new vehicles to the Hellenic Coast Guard.
Kikilias pointed out that the state has the obligation to provide the Coast Guard officers with all the technological and equipment means, so that they can perform their duties safely and professionally. “The personnel of the Coast Guard proves every day that they are present, in every part of the country, in every port, on every border island. The State must support them, with modern tools and infrastructure,” he emphasized.
The contract for the supply of the vehicles, worth almost 2 million euros (1,996,587 euros), had a completion deadline of 14 months, but the vehicles were delivered eight months earlier than the contractual obligation.
Kikilias stressed that the Ministry will continue to implement targeted actions for the technological and operational upgrading of the Coast Guard, including the procurement of unmanned vessels, the upgrading of the operations room and the strengthening of port authorities with new means. “With a plan, speed and transparency, we are building a modern, capable and powerful Coast Guard – at the service of security, insularity and national sovereignty,” the minister concluded.
