Bahrain

New Zealand’s economic prosperity depends upon open sea, air and electronic lines of communication. The New Zealand Defence Force makes an important contribution to international efforts towards freedom of navigation. This includes participation in multinational counter-piracy and maritime security operations in the Arabian Gulf and Indian Ocean.

New Zealand provides two staff officers to the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) Headquarters in Bahrain. The CMF is a multinational naval partnership, which exists to promote security, stability and prosperity across approximately 3.2 million square miles of international waters, encompassing some of the world’s most important shipping lanes. The CMF’s main focus areas are defeating terrorism, preventing piracy, encouraging regional cooperation, promoting a safe maritime environment and preventing drug and people trafficking.

Under this mandate, in January 2024 NZDF began contributing a small number of personnel to Operation Prosperity Guardian in roles at Operational Headquarters. 

For more information about the CMF go to: http://www.combinedmaritimeforces.com(external link) (external link).

The mandate for this deployment expires in June 2024.