Kuwait, NATO underline distinguished cooperation

BRUSSELS, Nov 12 (KUNA) -- Top Kuwaiti and NATO officials have emphasized that the partnership between the Gulf country and the 29-member Alliance is not only growing, but also strengthening and expanding by the day.
"It is a partnership that is growing every day. So we are very happy about this collaboration between NATO and Kuwait," said Giovanni Romani, head of Middle East and North Africa section at NATO.
He was speaking to KUNA and Kuwait TV at the sidelines of a four-day meeting between Kuwait and NATO at NATO headquarters that began yesterday, Monday.
"There is a very important high level meeting from Kuwait," said Romani, noting that the meetings will be held for four days.
The first two days (Monday and Tuesday) are dedicated to the second annual review of the NATO-Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) Centre in Kuwait.
"This is a very important Centre we established in Kuwait thanks to the generosity of Kuwait," he said.
Romani noted that four Arabian Gulf countries; Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE are currently members of the ICI but added that the Centre has been able to attract all six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which also includes Oman and Saudi Arabia.
"So we are very encouraged by the success of this Centre which is growing. We see how year after year the activities are growing and expanding its offer in terms of training, as a hub for seminars," he said.
The other two days (Wednesday and Thursday) are dedicated to NATO and Kuwait, which will discuss strengthening (our) relationship and working on bilateral collaboration between NATO and Kuwait, Romani said.
"We have very a friendly relationship. We get along very well with Sheikh Fawaz because we two are responsible for the Centre. So its a partnership that is growing every day," he said.
Romani said he is visiting the Centre often and "we are establishing collaboration with a number of entities to see what we can do more with other Commands of NATO, so we can also contribute to the success of this endeavour which is very promising and we are very happy about it." On his part Sheikh Fawaz Al-Sabah, head of the information and security follow-up sector at Kuwait's National Security Bureau, said Wednesday and Thursday meetings will review Kuwait's Individual Partnership and Cooperation (IPCP) with NATO.
He noted that the Centre in Kuwait is one of the tools for cooperation with NATO and that "we were able to implement the programmes that we need from NATO in the Centre itself." Sheikh Fawaz said review of cooperation between Kuwait and NATO includes issues like dealing with crises management, emerging security challenges, cyber security and public diplomacy among others.
On his part, Kuwait's ambassador to NATO, EU and Belgium Jassem Al-Budaiwi expressed happiness over the NATO-hosted meetings, noting that the annual review "is very important to promote the distinguished ties and cooperation between the two sides." Many issues, including military and civilian topics that are of interest to Kuwait and NATO and also to all the GCC countries will be discussed, including information technology, cyber security and dealing with crises.
"Relations between Kuwait and NATO are very distinguished and we give great importance to these review meetings," he told KUNA and Kuwait TV.
He pointed out that Kuwait will host the 15th anniversary of the ICI in December, to which the four ICI members will participate in addition Saudi Arabia, Oman and the GCC Secretariat.
"We in Kuwait are very proud of the deep and close coordination and cooperation with NATO and in cooperation with our brothers in the GCC so that the training of cadres in Kuwait and in the GCC countries could reach to international standards in civil and military sectors," he said.
"And this cooperation also aims to promote peace and security in the region and the world," he added.
NATO's ICI was launched at the Alliance's Istanbul Summit in June 2004.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg inaugurated ICI's Regional Centre in Kuwait City in January 2017. (end) nk.hb