Stoltenberg: We value our relationship with Gulf Cooperation Council

Jens Stoltenber

 RIYADH: North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO valued its relationship with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

Stoltenberg on Tuesday made history by becoming the first NATO Secretary General to visit Saudi Arabia, that he started by holding talks with the GCC Secretary-General Jasem Al Budawi.

The GCC, founded in 1981, comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“An honour to speak with Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary General @jasemalbudaiwi during my visit to Riyadh – the 1st visit to Saudi Arabia by a #NATO Secretary General,” Stoltenberg posted on his X, formerly Twitter, account.

“Dialogue with partners is deeply important to NATO, and we value our relationship with the #GCC,” he said in the tweet.

Four of the six GCC countries have joined the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) launched by NATO in 2004 to “contribute to long-term global and regional security by offering GCC countries practical bilateral security cooperation with NATO.”

Kuwait joined the ICI in December 2004, followed by Bahrain and Qatar in February 2005 and the UAE in June 2005.

In 2017, NATO opened its first ICI Regional Centre in Kuwait during a high-profile ceremony attended by Stoltenberg.

 He stressed that NATO and the ICI would work together in a range of different areas, that include strategic analysis, civil emergency planning, military-to-military cooperation, and public diplomacy, Stoltenberg added.

“The partnerships we will strengthen through this Centre are vitally important to NATO because the security of Gulf countries is directly linked to the security of all Allies. We face common security threats like terrorism, weapons proliferation, and cyber-attacks. And we share the same aspirations for peace and for stability. 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 because modern security institutions and well-trained local forces represent our best weapons in the fight against violent extremism.”

Stoltenberg added that NATO had a long history of working with partners to project stability beyond its borders.

“My message is this: In addressing the most pressing security challenges of our time, we are much stronger together than we are alone, and that is what this NATO-ICI Centre is all about: Deepening trust, building cooperation and working together to make our nations safer,” he said.