Yesterday morning, the French warship frigate FS Prairial arrived in Puerto Vallarta, within the framework of the surveillance scale of the Pacific zone.
Jean Marc Beal of the defense attache at the French embassy welcomed him, at approximately 8:50 am. Time of Puerto Vallarta. Later on board the ship, the ship's commander, the frigate captain Sylvian Faya, gave a lecture to the media, where he made known the details of his visit. I mention in an interview for Vallarta Today that the ship is based in French Polynesia and its mission is the responsibility of the peaceful zone for France and it is its nature to cooperate with the countries of the area, and Mexico is one of the main ones, for this reason visit this time to Puerto Vallarta.
Regarding the relationship between Mexico and France, the ship's commander commented: the relations between France and Mexico is rather a matter of the responsibility of the embassy or the consul; but at the military level we want to cooperate with the Mexican Navy precisely to exchange our practices and the way we expand our marinas, and during this scale we will carry out some activities and operations together, first we will dive with two teams, one from the Prairial and another from the naval zone here in the port, to check the ship and also at the end of the scale at the time of departure we are going to do a bilateral cooperation activity with a ship of the Navy of Mexico.
Puerto Vallarta receives support from France in hurricane season
In a catastrophic case Commander Sylvian Faya mentioned: it is a very important issue in the area because in Polynesia, as here in Central America there are many hurricanes or strong climate events, it is a major issue of cooperation between the armed forces of all countries of the area. Also commented that in Polynesia, the hurricane season is over but in Chile and Peru, faced these weather conditions with severe flooding. In this framework, Navy ships can participate in the evacuation or transport resources, food, water, aid or doctors.
In this way a French vessel can participate in the Pacific area, but in the same way the Navy of Mexico, can eventually support in the event of an event of this magnitude of intervention to our advantage. It is a very important issue of military bilateral cooperation.
Among the most important missions of the frigate ship Prairial, is bilateral military cooperation to know and exchange the procedures of all the armed forces, precisely the armed marines of each country with which it works from Polynesia, France to Mexico. Likewise, Captain Sylvian Faya assured: it is important to know our way of expanding our armed ships and navies so that we can work at the necessary moment.
The other most illustrative and major mission of a multilateral work is the fight against illicit trafficking, and precisely with the countries of the South American zone, Peru, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador. It is a multinational operation of traffic control at sea, in cooperation with the Americans, Canada and the surrounding countries.
Thanks to the excellent relationship between both countries, France and Mexico. France has chosen Mexico as a strategic, political and important partner, because both countries share the same international policy in the field of international law, with the international rules of the UN, both prefer to fix all international affairs within the framework of the UN , and multilateral relations and not only bilateral or unilateral way as there is a trend in the current world that has strengthened the political and military relationship between France and Mexico.
France relies on Puerto Vallarta as a safe tourist destination.
The issue of security in Puerto Vallarta is important for us because we are responsible for the safety of the French that docks with this vessel, there is important preparatory work with the authorities of the naval region, of the naval zone. With the secretary of foreign relations of Mexico, so that all these bilateral military activities are passed as well as possible, that is why we selected Puerto Vallarta because it is a safe, tourist area very favorable for a scale of this type.
The commander of the French ship said: The message I want to convey is that the Pacific is a huge area, so a country can not face all the risks that exist in this type of ocean, so the most important thing is to maintain greater cooperation between the countries of the area and that is what the French Navy does.
The ship left French Polynesia in Taiti. In January and returns in April, with a duration of 3 and a half months and will remain in this port for approximately four days.
FS Prairial is a war frigate.
It is a frigate ¨floreal¨ responsible for the surveillance of distant maritime areas in which France extends its sovereignty. In peace period, it deals with the surveillance of fishing, navigation police, assistance at sea, fight against illegal traffics and intelligence gathering.
The missions they carry out are representative in countries far from the metropolis. It also participates in humanitarian operations such as the evacuation of citizens or refugees, grounding elements of intervention, support and protection of an amphibious operation.
The "Prairial" has an Alouette III helicopter that allows it to significantly expand its range of activities. The ship is equipped with a system of armament and means of self-defense capable of destroying elements and airs, and of opposing conventional threats.
The ship measures 93.5 meters long and 14 meters wide, has two propellers propeller with oriental blades, 4 diesel engines and advances at a speed of 18 knots.
The helicopter is an Alouette III SA 319 B, with armament of 2 guns of 100 millimeters and 2 guns of 20 millimeters and submachine gun of 12.7 millimeters. In addition to a DRBV 21 surveillance radar.
Prairial has carried out missions in the archipelagos of French Polynesia (society islands, Tuamotu islands, Marquesas islands, Austral islands and Gambier islands and in the Pacific in the direction of the Americas of Asia and Oceania.
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