The governments of Spain and the US have signed an agreement for the deployment of two additional US Navy ships at the Rota Naval Base, in development of the cooperation established by the Second Amendment Protocol to the Defense Cooperation Agreement between both countries.
As reported by the Ministry of Defense through a statement, the deployment of the two additional ships is expected to materialize in the coming years, one in 2024 and the next in the coming years.
The agreement was signed this Monday by the Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, and the United States Ambassador to Spain, Julissa Reynoso, on behalf of the respective governments. Robles will register this Tuesday a request to appear before the Defense Commission of the Congress of Deputies to report on this agreement.
This signature, according to Defense, "is a consequence of the commitment expressed in the joint declaration that the presidents of the United States and the Government of Spain adopted on June 28, 2022 during the meeting held on the margins of the NATO Summit, in Madrid, to update and further strengthen the strategic relationship between the two countries".
The agreement allows the authorization to station at the Rota Naval Base to be extended from four to six ships, without modifying the missions or the types of forces or maximum force levels, both for civilian personnel and for US military personnel currently authorized for said Base in the Defense Cooperation Agreement, which is still in force.
"Spain and the United States thus reiterate their commitment to the Atlantic Alliance in this new context of the war in Ukraine and the security environment in Europe, while sharing their concern for the situation in the Mediterranean and Africa and also conveying a message of responsibility and tranquility in our direction to the South, to which this agreement confers a singular strategic importance", underlines the Defense statement.
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