KUWAIT CITY, March 15, (KUNA): The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) pays a special attention to Kuwait and the Gulf region, seeking closer cooperative ties with Kuwait in military and academic areas, a visiting NATO general said here Monday.
In a lecture at the Kuwaiti Diplomatic Institute, Lieutenant-General Wolf-Dieter Loeser, the Comman-dant of the NATO Defence College (NDC), stressed the significance of deepening bilateral relations between both sides, especially following the Sept 11, 2001 attacks.
He believed that fresh strategic concepts need to be introduced, calling on Kuwait to join this important alliance. The NATO general is here to hold talks with Kuwaiti military and security officials on cooperative relations between Kuwait and NATO.
He added that many plans and measures had been taken by the NATO to fight terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, climate change, energy security, piracy and organized crime. He noted that bilateral cooperation could be further reinforced and cemented through the Istanbul Initiative, of which Kuwait is a member.
The Commandant of the NATO Defence College (NDC) reiterated the NATO’s declared goals of ensuring security and stability in the region.
For his part, Director of the Kuwaiti Diplomatic Institute Ambassador Abdel-Aziz Al-Sharekh said the NATO general’s lecture at the institute came within the framework of growing and promising relations between Kuwait and other GCC member countries, and the NATO. It also comes at a time when there is mounting interest in the security situation in the region, he added.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the lecture, Deputy Chief of the National Security Apparatus Sheikh Thamer Ali Al-Sabah hailed distinguished relations between Kuwait and the NATO in all areas, mainly military and academic ones.
He said he would lead a Kuwaiti security and military delegation to the NATO Defence College within a couple of weeks in order to get acquainted with key activities carried out there.
He added that Kuwaiti academic students would also visit the college soon to learn from its professors.
Since 2004, there has been continuing cooperation and coordination between Kuwait and the NATO, he said, lauding the level of bilateral strategic relations.