NATO seeks closer ties with GCC

Kuwait City  : North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) chief Jens Stoltenberg yesterday called for boosting security cooperation with the Gulf states as the Western military alliance opened its first office in the region in Kuwait.

“It will be a vital hub for cooperation between the alliance and our Gulf partners,” Stoltenberg said at the inauguration of the centre in the presence of Kuwait Prime Minister Shaikh Jaber Al Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah. 

Bahrain’s Foreign Affairs Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa took part in the inauguration. The centre is based on the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI), which was launched by the NATO leaders in 2004 and aims to boost security links with the Middle East, in particular Arab states. Representatives of NAC and ICI member states also attended the meeting.

Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE are members of ICI while the remaining two Gulf Cooperation Council states -- Saudi Arabia and Oman -- plan to join.

Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah said the region is facing serious challenges that require cooperation with international organisations. “We face common security threats like terrorism, weapons proliferation, and cyber attacks. And we share the same aspirations for peace and for stability,” Stoltenberg said.

“So it is essential that we work more closely together than ever before. We have now developed individual cooperation programmes with all our Gulf partners,” he said.

Stoltenberg said that over the past year, NATO has trained hundreds of Iraqi officers in Jordan to better fight the Islamic State jihadist group.

“We are now extending our training and capacity-building efforts into Iraq itself,” he said.

NATO continues to fight terrorism in other ways, including with direct support to the anti-IS coalition, he said.

The centre will strengthen the military-to-military cooperation and the fight against terrorism and extremism, Stoltenberg said.                -