NATO seeks closer military cooperation with Mediterranean countries

BRUSSELS, Jan 23 (KUNA) -- NATO's military committee Thursday ended its two-day meeting after discussing cooperation with partner countries and NATO operations.
"In the last two days we had some very positive discussions on NATO operations, partnerships and transformations which will help us to define military priorities in the coming months," General Knud Bartels, chairman of the committee, told a press conference at NATO headquarters this afternoon.
He noted that the next NATO summit in Wales, UK, in September will "be a milestone in terms of operation and future military capabilities and partnerships." Bartels said the meeting started on Wednesday with a session dedicated to the Mediterranean Dialogue partners "who highlighted the shared threats from human trafficking to arms smuggling and terrorism which are currently affecting the region." "Therefore we agreed to utilize the forum of the Mediterranean Dialogue to strengthen the military to military relations with our partners in the region in order to enhance mutual understandinG and practical cooperation," he stressed.
They also touched upon the Syrian crisis "where we were given the perspectives from nations close to it," he said.
Mediterranean Dialogue was initiated in 1994 and currently involves seven non-NATO countries of the Mediterranean region: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.
On Afghanistan, Bartels said the Alliance and partner countries underlined their commitment to fully support the ISAF commander in the next eleven months. "This will be a critical time-frame during which we will transition ISAF mission, fulfill the bulk of our redeployment and set the conditions for the new mission called Resolute Support," he added. The committee is NATO's highest military authority and composed of the Chiefs of Defence of all 28 member countries. (end) nk.ajs KUNA 231852 Jan 14NNNN