MALDIVES COAST GUARD REQUESTS TRAINING FROM U.S.

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 000546 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS, SCA/RA E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/05/2018 TAGS: MAS MV PGOV PREL SUBJECT: MALDIVES COAST GUARD REQUESTS TRAINING FROM U.S. COAST GUARD REF: COLOMBO 492 Classified By: Charge James R. Moore for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Craig E. Bone, Commander, U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) District Eleven, met Major General Mohamed Zahir, Chief of Staff Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) and Embassy Colombo ODC Chief Orozco on May 9 in Maldives. ¶2. (C) Major General Zahir requested from Admiral Bone training in the following areas: Visit, Board, Search and Seizure; Search and Rescue; Small Boat Operations; and Maritime Law Enforcement. Admiral Bone conveyed Major General Zahir's request to Embassy Colombo ODC Chief Orozco during lunch on the pre-positioning ship W.H. Pitsenbarger. 3 (C) On May 9, Director General of Maldives Coast Guard Colonel Zakariya Mansoor told Admiral Bone that Maldives is interested in sending personnel to the USCG Port State Control/Boarding Officer training courses in Yorktown, VA. Colonel Mansoor also said that Maldives is interested in hosting a USCG Foreign Assistance Training Team for Maritime Law Enforcement and Port Security. ¶4. (C) Embassy concurs with providing Visit, Board, Search and Seizure; Search and Rescue; and Small Boat Operations training to Maldives through Foreign Military Financing or proposed 1206 funding. Embassy also supports providing Port State Control/Boarding Officer, Maritime Law Enforcement, and Port Security training if appropriate resources are available. MOORE