Gulf | Kuwait
Nato to highlight strategy for Gulf region
Nato official to hold talks with security officials on relations between Kuwait and Nato
- By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
- Published: 12:15 March 13, 2010
Manama: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) is set to highlight its views and new strategic concept on the Gulf region.
Lieutenant-General Wolf-Dieter Loeser, the Commandant of the Nato Defence College (NDC) is visiting Kuwait on March 14 and 15 to hold talks with military and security officials on relations between Kuwait and Nato, the Kuwaiti Diplomatic Institute said on Saturday.
Last week, Nato secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that the alliance and the Gulf countries had to confront common security threats.
"We face common challenges and threats, such as failed states, terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, piracy and energy security," Rasmussen said in Bahrain.
"These are all security issues that cannot be successfully tackled by any one country alone. They require a multilateral and cooperative approach to security, including through the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative. Therefore it is clear that the security of Bahrain, and of all our ICI partner countries, is of strategic interest to Nato," he told a gathering of diplomats, journalists and think tank members.
It was his first visit to Manama and his second to the Gulf since he was elected to Nato’s top post in April 2009.
According to Nato officials, the new Strategic Concept, to be elaborated and approved by all 28 current Allies, takes into account the way in which security challenges have evolved and includes the new emphasis on proliferation, failed states, piracy, energy supplies, terrorism and climate change.
It also covers how Nato has adapted and transformed in the last decade to better tackle these challenges.
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