U.S. Africa Command's civilian deputy, Ambassador Mary Carlin Yates, met with Belgian defense officials to discuss U.S. AFRICOM activities during an official visit to Brussels, March 12-13, 2009. Yates, U.S. Africa Command's deputy to the commander for civil-military activities, led a small delegation from the command's headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany to meet with representatives of the Belgian Ministry of Defense and discuss common security objectives in Africa. She also outlined the command’s activities for Ambassador Vincent Mertens de Willmars, director of the Ministry of Defense diplomatic department, Rear Admiral Marc Ectors, Belgian Ministry of Defense operations director, and members of the Ministry of Defense staff. Brussels, a center of international politics and military issues, is home to the main bodies of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Belgium's armed forces of approximately 47,000 troops has participated in multi-national operations, most notably the European Union led peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic and Chad and the NATO-International Security Assistance Force in Khandahar, Afghanistan. (Editor's Note: The EU-led mission transferred to the UN Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad March 15, 2009). "We have an awful lot to learn from the Belgian experience in Africa," said U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission to Belgium, Wayne Bush, during the meeting. "Partnering with others such as Belgium can only benefit both of our countries' efforts." Belgium has strong historical ties to central Africa, especially the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). Currently, Belgium has a handful of observers at the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Yates said, "We absolutely need to team up," referring to combining efforts to assist with security and stability objectives in Africa. She also extended an offer of interest for the Belgian Navy to join the U.S. Navy's Africa Partnership Station (APS), which focuses on issues of maritime security and domain awareness in the coastal waters off of West Africa. APS is an international security cooperation initiative -- conceptually developed by West and Central African nations in 2006 -- led by U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa. Its training platform strengthens global maritime partnerships through collaborative activities to combat maritime security issues such as illegal narcotics trafficking, illegal fishing and other criminal activities. This year, 18 African and European nations have dozens of officers embedded in the crew of the USS Nashville in West Africa. The ship visits selected ports along the West Africa coastline and spends about two weeks in each port training partner-nation sailors in areas of seamanship, search and rescue operations, law enforcement, medical readiness, environmental stewardship, and small boat maintenance. "We are doing more and more in maritime security with APS," Yates said. "It's great that they are all working together in that capacity." During the trip, Yates also met with Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, African defense attachés to Belgium, other U.S. government agencies, and international nongovernmental organizations to share information about command activities and discuss possibilities for future cooperation.