Regional center in Kuwait serves as forum between Alliance and Gulf partners: NATO
BRUSSELS, March 22, (KUNA): The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) stressed on Tuesday, the importance of the NATO’s regional center and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative in Kuwait as a forum that brings together between NATO and its partners in the Gulf region.
NATO said in its 2022 report, which was launched by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a press conference, “NATO and Kuwait continue to benefit from the opportunities provided by the Regional Center Istanbul Cooperation Initiative at NATO Headquarters in Kuwait.”
“The regional center in Kuwait serves as a forum where allies and Gulf countries meet to discuss issues of common interest,” he added.
He also pointed out that the NATO Center in Kuwait provides training courses for partners from the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, in addition to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman.
He indicated that it hosted 20 events and seven training courses last year that included women, peace and security issues, in addition to a symposium organized in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross on Cyber Operations and NATO’s New Strategic Concept.
In 2017 NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg opened the NATO Regional Center in Kuwait.
On the other hand, the report stresses the importance of “the wide network of partners in the Middle East and North Africa for NATO, through the Mediterranean Dialogue and the partnership frameworks of the NATO initiative Istanbul for cooperation.”
Political
He pointed out that in 2022, NATO reactivated its political dialogue with its partners in the Middle East and North Africa, after the turmoil caused by the Corona pandemic.
He pointed out that the alliance discussed with partners from the Middle East issues of food and energy security and their implications in the maritime field. Senior NATO officials also visited Kuwait, Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania and Morocco last year.
He pointed out that Jordan and NATO continued to cooperate with other partners in the region on a wide range of issues.
He pointed out that in 2022 the NATO mission in Iraq expanded to approximately 550 personnel, including civilian and military advisors, pointing out that the NATO mission in Iraq is not combative and focuses on providing advice and capacity building to assist Iraq in eliminating terrorism and promoting stability.
The report also considered that the past year was an “unparalleled year” due to the Russian war on Ukraine, noting that the world has become more dangerous.
“Faced with the biggest security crisis in Europe since World War II, NATO responded with strength and unity, Putin’s invasion came as a shock, but not a surprise,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.
He stressed that at the Madrid Summit 2022, NATO adopted a new strategic concept and classified Russia as the “most important threat” to security, along with terrorism, pointing to the challenges posed by China on the international level.