Ambassador Mary Carlin Yates, deputy commander for civil-military activities, U.S. Africa Command, concluded a three-day visit with Portuguese and African leadership in the European capital of Lisbon November 5, 2008. The purpose of the visit was to share information regarding the command's activities, to address areas of common interest, and to discuss possibilities for future cooperation in the realm of African maritime security, specifically counter narcotics trafficking. Ambassador Yates' visit this month follows a visit by the commander of U.S. Africa Command, General "Kip" Ward, to Portugal in June. The Ambassador's visit included meetings with civilian and military leadership of various Portuguese agencies and organizations, to include the Ministry of Defense, the Commonwealth of Portuguese Speaking Nations (Comunidade dos Paises da Lingua Portuguesa, or CPLP), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Internal Administration, Ministry of Justice, and the Maritime Analysis Operations Center - Narcotics. "I've come on behalf of the command to show transparency and to seek your advice,"and to underscore the unique nature of this new command," she commented. "We're learning and evolving, with a comprehensive interagency approach that offers new and broader avenues for cooperation. We have a very positive relationship with Portugal -- coming to Portugal is a gateway to the great knowledge you have on the African continent," she remarked. Yates emphasized the "comprehensive approach" to security assistance being undertaken by the command, an approach which incorporates other US government agencies into the planning phases of engagement through their participation as permanent members of the command's staff. She underscored the command's counter narcotics trafficking division as an example of such interagency cooperation. Dr. Jose Conde Rodrigues, secretary of state, Ministry of Justice, expressed support for the command's innovative structure and remarked favorably upon the outreach conducted by Yates in Portugal. "This visit is very important to enable us to better understand this command, U.S. Africa Command, and also to better understand the American initiative to have an involved program for Africa," Rodrigues remarked. ""one that involves not only military aspects, obviously, but also civil activities such as cooperation in combatting crime and providing assistance to African countries in order to create stronger institutions. "Portugal has very important historic ties with various countries of Africa, and we also have projects that we're undertaking with these countries," he added. "We're ready to cooperate, and we are very satisfied with this visit." Please note that the quoted comments from Dr. Rodrigues were translated by the author from Portuguese into English.