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A conference in Bahrain later this month will be an outstanding opportunity to strengthen relations between the 26-member alliance and the GCC countries, Nato Deputy Secretary General Claudio Bisogniero said on Friday.
"It is a very important meeting and we all look forward to it. We expect a lot both in terms of explaining our programmes and hopes and in understanding what the GCC countries want. We want to appreciate their aspirations and understand their concerns," Bisogniero told journalists from media based in Arab countries on the last day of the Nato summit in Bucharest.
Manama will on April 24-25 host a meeting bringing together the permanent representatives of the 26 countries in the North Atlantic Council and senior officials from the GCC states. Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer will attend the meeting, to be held in Bahrain for the first time.
Bahrain is one of four Gulf countries to have signed the 2004 Istanbul Cooperation Initiative with Nato.
Briefing the journalists on the outcome of the summit, Bisogniero said that Nato was extending its training mission in Iraq until the end of 2009.
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