MADRID --- Today, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense, an agreement was signed for the deployment of two additional ships of the United States Navy at the Rota Naval Base, further developing the cooperation established by the Second Protocol of Amendment to the Defense Cooperation Agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United States of America.
The agreement was signed by the Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, and the United States Ambassador to Spain, Julissa Reynoso, on behalf of their respective governments.
This signature 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 both 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 fully 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 South direction, to which this agreement confers singular strategic importance.
The deployment of the two additional vessels is scheduled to materialize in the coming years, one in 2024 and the next in the coming years.
Tomorrow the Minister of Defense will register a request to appear before the Defense Commission of the Congress of Deputies to report on this agreement.
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