Italian frigate arrives for 'Transit' exercise with Amiri Navy

The latest visit of Italian frigate 'Carlo Margottini' to Qatar underlines the strong military partnership between the Italian and Qatari navies, especially focusing on training programmes and education, continuous contact and exchange of best practices, Italian ambassador Pasquale Salzano has said.

The second visit of 'Carlo Margottini' to Doha, until March 5, forms part of the naval campaign in the Middle East and Arabian Sea, aimed at "ensuring presence and surveillance for the protection of sea lines of communication of national interest".In a statement Sunday, the Directorate of Defence Communication at Qatar's Ministry of Defence said the aim of the frigate's visit is to participate in the 'Transit' exercise with the Qatari Amiri Navy, in addition to strengthening relations between the two friendly countries, as reported by the official Qatar News Agency.“This new visit of the 'Margottini' – along with the former visits of the 'sister' frigates ‘Carabiniere’ and ‘Martinengo’ – confirms the solid commitment of the Italian navy to continue to co-operate with the Qatari navy and shows how close and dynamic our partnership is,” Salzano told reporters at a press conference held on board the frigate at Doha Port yesterday.The envoy said 'Margottini' will conduct co-operation activities with the Qatari navy during its journey, while “contributing to promoting our national industry – specifically Italian companies Fincantieri, Leonardo, MBDA and Elettronica, which designed, built and equipped this advanced multi-purpose frigate”.Leonardo designed, produced and integrated the core technologies of the ship, namely the combat management system, key radars and sensors, communications and defence systems. The same high level of capabilities, particularly the advanced naval technologies available on board the 'Margottinitarget="_blank"'>