Nato ‘ready to welcome’ Saudi Arabia and Oman

Alliance says ‘doors are open’ to the two GCC countries yet to join Istanbul Co-operation Initiative

The NATO Star logo sits on a glass panel during the military and political alliance's summit at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on Thursday, July 12, 2018. In an unexpected twist, NATO leaders held an unplanned emergency session on the last day of their two-day summit, which has been upended by U.S. President Donald Trump's attacks on allies over defense spending. Photographer: Marlene Awaad/Bloomberg
Powered by automated translation

Nato is “ready” to welcome Saudi Arabia and Oman into its co-operation initiative with Gulf countries, according to a senior official.

The initiative, launched at the military alliance’s 2004 summit in Istanbul, focuses on regional security co-operation in areas such as counter-terrorism and counter-proliferation.

With the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar already members of the Istanbul Co-operation Initiative, Saudi Arabia and Oman are the only Gulf Cooperation Council members yet to join.

"They know that our doors are open," the official told The National.

“Whenever they are ready, we will be ready to welcome them. We cannot go further than that."

The UAE has been party to the ICI since 2004 and was the first Arab country to open an embassy at Nato.

Officials here at the summit in Brussels say they have heard murmurs that Riyadh is interested in joining the ICI but have not seen that interest materialise into action.

Riyadh has been courted by Nato before and the alliance remains eager to have the largest GCC country co-operating more closely with the alliance.

Oman maintains a neutral line on military issues, but there are reports that it has also expressed an interest in co-operating with Nato.

______________

Read more:

_______________

The alliance opened a regional centre in Kuwait in January last year, its first such presence in the region.

“The Nato-ICI Centre represents an important milestone in Nato’s deepening co-operation with Kuwait and the entire region,” Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at the inauguration of the centre.

The centre is a focal point for collaboration between Nato and Gulf states in areas such as sharing of expertise, public diplomacy and strategic analysis.

Mr Stoltenberg said it was vital that Gulf countries worked with Nato because of their “shared security challenges” such as terrorism, weapons proliferation and failing states.

“The security of the Gulf is directly linked to the security of all Nato allies. We share the same aspirations for peace and stability,” he said.