Shortly after the end of the Cold War Belgium and the Netherlands signed an agreement settling the cooperation between the Belgian and Dutch navies in 1995, as well in peacetime as in wartime.
It led to a unique form of cooperation of both navies in operational matters, training, logistics and maintenance.
The Belgian and Dutch M-frigates and minehunters are operationally led by the binational naval headquarter in Den Helder.
The Belgian Defence minister Pieter De Crem said at that ceremony that "we are en route to a totally new structure with a trinational command.
Dutch Defence Minister Hans Hillen declared that BeNeSam was an extraordinary base to build upon.