The Diplomat
The Fincantieri and Navantia shipyards have agreed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost their relationship and explore the joint benefit of further collaboration in the naval and maritime fields.
Both companies, leading European shipyards, will assess future opportunities for the Italian and Spanish Navies, including the development of joint projects and participation in the development of frigates and other naval platforms that will form part of the future European Defense Force, Navantia said in a press release.
The signing of the memorandum will take place tomorrow, Wednesday, November 3, at Navantia’s stand at the FEINDEF exhibition, which is being held in Madrid, by the general manager of Fincantieri’s Naval Division, Giuseppe Giordo, and the president of Navantia, Ricardo Domínguez.
Navantia and Fincantieri already collaborate in the European Patrol Corvette (EPC) program, to date the most important naval initiative within the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) project, together with the French company Naval Group.
“We have long known that, in order to stand firm in the face of the global challenges of the future, a strong and lasting collaboration in the field of defense and security at the European level is necessary,” said Giuseppe Bono, CEO of Fincantieri. “Only in this way will our continent be able to play an increasingly important role and this agreement goes in that direction,” he continued. “We are therefore very pleased to materialize a plan that can no longer be postponed and to build a path of collaboration based on important programs of the two Navies,” he added.
For his part, the president of Navantia, Ricardo Domínguez, highlighted “the great opportunity for collaboration that this agreement represents, as it is the first signed between both companies at this level and with this ambitious scope.” “Our goal is to strengthen European Defense and boost the position of the European Defense Industry and we believe that agreements like ours pave the way towards this goal,” he added.
