Abu Dhabi // The UAE and other Gulf states should use their unique political and geographic position to act as mediators between western nations and Middle East conflict zones, a Nato parliamentary official said yesterday. Jean-Michel Boucheron, outgoing chairman of the Nato Parliamentary Assembly's Mediterranean and Middle East Special Group (GSM), spoke to reporters during the final day of a two-day seminar on regional security issues.
"The UAE is very well placed because it has a spirit of openness and it's possible to have dialogue because it's an interlocutor that is accepted by virtually all the parties given its spirit of openness," he said. "So the UAE can make proposals or host negotiations because everyone views the Emirates as a trustworthy partner." Nato, which works closely with the deliberative parliamentary assembly of its member countries that was meeting in Abu Dhabi this week, has been strengthening its defence and security relationship with Gulf countries since 2004, when it launched the Istanbul Co-operation Initiative (ICI).
The initiative, of which all of the GCC nations except Saudi Arabia and Oman are signatories, seeks to improve security co-operation to combat terrorism, prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and counter the illegal flow of arms, drugs and people. Mr Boucheron said that while Nato states did not have the same obligation to defend GCC countries as they would other alliance members in the event they were attacked, Nato would "not remain indifferent" if a Gulf country were subject to aggression. "Gulf countries are friends of Nato countries and of other western countries, notably France, for example," he said, citing Nato's involvement in the First Gulf War when Iraq invaded Kuwait, as well as French overtures towards establishing a military base in the UAE. "An attack against a country of the Gulf would be very, very badly viewed because it would be against the security interests of all." Some GCC member states oppose joining the ICI because of its broad scope and lack of security obligations. In its current form, the initiative contains no requirements for member countries to defend one another from invasions or attacks. Instead, the wording of the agreement focuses mostly on military training co-operation and opening dialogue between individual GCC states and Nato - a framework that some countries in the region see as flaccid and superfluous. "It's now unclear and lacks any commitment," said Dr Mustafa Alani, asenior adviser and security the programme director at the Gulf Research Centre in Dubai. "The small states in the region - you're talking about Kuwait and Qatar - think that this is a good beginning that could be developed to [meet] strategic needs." Dr Alani noted that the ICI began in 2004, one year after the international community first became concerned about Iran's nuclear programme. The ICI's role as a potential foil to Iran's expanding influence in the Middle East, he said, was the most crucial, though as yet unofficial, component of the initiative. "This is basically a counter politic to the Iranian ambition," he said. "This could be used in this dimension, although it's not written on the paper, that this is a strategic partnership, but there's no military dimension so far." mbradley@thenational.ae
