Manama: The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) is tabling a new multi-dimensional approach where partners work together to confront new threats.
In a keynote address to a conference of Alliance and Gulf officials in Qatar, Claudio Bisogniero, Nato's deputy secretary general, said that Nato and its Gulf partners needed to work more closely together to confront the common threats of terrorism, piracy, cyber attacks, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the disruption of energy flows.
Bisogniero said that Nato's security and that of Gulf partners were intertwined "today more than ever", which calls for the reinvigoration of the partnership along the lines of the new Strategic Concept agreed at the Lisbon Summit.
"This concept gives partners greater opportunities for consultation on security issues of common concern with Mato's, as well as an expanded range of practical cooperation activities," he said. "For instance, energy security, maritime security and the proliferation of missile technology and of weapons of mass destruction are areas where opportunities exist to consult and in certain cases cooperate more deliberately," he said at the fourth Ambassadorial Conference of NATO's Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) on Tuesday.
ICI, a partnership established in 2004 at the Istanbul Summit, brings together 28 countries from Europe and North American with four countries from the Arabian Gulf. Oman and Saudi Arabia attended the conference as observers.
Bisogniero said that Nato took from its current experience in Afghanistan a deep conviction that stability required a long-term commitment, in this case well after the Afghans take the lead for security over the next months and years.
"In this vein, Nato hopes that the Gulf countries will be a part of that commitment and provide not only security assistance, but also investment funds, development support and diplomatic avenues for political reconciliation," he said.
Major General Hamad bin Ali Al Attiyah, the Chief of Staff of the Qatari Armed Forces, said that Qatar, an active member of the ICI, was committed to supporting the security requirements of its member countries.
Qatar has demonstrated its interest in the organisation's activities since its formation seven years ago, he said at the conference, co-organised by Qatar and Nato.
"The series of meetings held in Doha as part of the ICI stands testimony to the country's increasing interest in issues on the safety and security of the ICI members," he said, quoted by Qatari daily Gulf Times.
