Mircea Geoana considers that the security of the Atlantic Alliance is closely related to that of the Middle East, North Africa, the Sahel and even the Gulf of Guinea.
Follow the live blog about the War in Ukraine here
NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana highlighted this Tuesday the importance of the organization’s southern neighborhood, while preparing its strategy to strengthen relations with countries in the Middle East, North Africa and the Sahel.
Geoana made these statements at an event organized in Brussels by the German Marshall Fund think tank to present the report of a group of independent experts, commissioned last October by the secretary general of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization, bloc of Western Defense), Jens Stoltenberg. , to support the decisions of the Atlantic Alliance regarding its southern neighborhood.
“What happens in the region directly affects the security of the Euro-Atlantic region,” Geoana said, according to a NATO statement.
The study presents a series of recommendations to define NATO’s approach in the aforementioned regions.
Although published this Tuesday, the report had already been presented in March to the North Atlantic Council, the Alliance’s highest decision-making body, and discussed by the foreign ministers of the member states at a meeting in Brussels in April.
In the statement, the Alliance said that Stoltenberg has presented concrete proposals to its members with the aim of agreeing on a package of measures to strengthen its relationship with its southern neighbors in time for the NATO leaders’ summit in Washington in July.
The authors of the report consider that the The challenges on the southern flank are increasingly interconnected with those to the east. and that the security of the Atlantic Alliance is closely linked to that of the Middle East, North Africa, the Sahel and even the Gulf of Guinea.
Therefore, they propose to deepen political relations and public diplomacy with these southern neighbors through new approaches from different areas.
Independent experts see potential for further growth in the relationship NATO 30th anniversary with NATO partners Mediterranean Dialogue (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia) and in the 20-year relationship with partners in Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Yemen).
NATO has promoted packages for the development of defense capabilities in Jordan, Tunisia and Mauritania, but experts propose going further and, like the mission sent to Iraq, they maintain that the possibility of creating missions dedicated to training and the defense. member qualification, which would be sent upon their invitation.
They also advocate the appointment of a NATO special envoy for the southern flank, as well as the search for shared solutions to the common threats facing the Alliance and these countries, including the destabilizing impact of Russia and China and the threat of terrorism.
At a time when the war in the Gaza Strip threatens the stability of the region, the report highlights the allies’ previously stated commitment to lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians through a two-state solution, as well as support to the international peace efforts of the allies to make this solution a reality.
As a long-term measure, the document proposes that NATO invite the Palestinian Authority to observe or participate in the organization’s ongoing Mediterranean Dialogue activities, in accordance with existing practices.
The report, which contains more than 114 recommendations, was prepared by a group of 11 experts, who were in contact with senior allied civil and military officials, NATO partners in its southern neighborhood, academics and civil society representatives.
Source: Observadora
