Operation Commander of EUNAVFOR MED Rear Adm. Enrico Credendino left Cairo on Wednesday after holding talks on security challenges and political developments in the Mediterranean area.

Credendino expressed, during talks with Interior Minister Magdi Abdel Ghafar, his hope of coordinating efforts between Egyptian and EU bodies involved in combating human trafficking in the Mediterranean region.

Abdel Ghafar briefed Credendino on strategies employed by the Interior Ministry to combat human trafficking, as well as the success recently achieved by Egyptian security forces to limit this phenomenon.

Operation EUNAVFOR MED was established on 18 May 2015 by the European Council. It is a military operation contributing to the disruption of the business model of human smuggling and trafficking networks in the Southern Central Mediterranean.

Considering the objective of EUNAVFOR MED, the cooperation with the law enforcement community, Europol in particular, is essential.