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Abu Dhabi: The Secretary General of Nato on Thursday made an appeal to fight terrorism and stressed the importance of building stronger ties with UAE and the region.
"I make an appeal to you to fight terrorism together," said Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) Secretary General Jaap Scheffer in his address yesterday at the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research in Abu Dhabi.
"The old Nato defended the West during the Cold War. Over the last few years, Nato has adapted to the new change. Iran and North Korea's nuclear ambitions have taken centre stage. Today there is an obvious mutual interest between us and the UAE. We both need each other," Scheffer said.
Nato's initiative to include the broader Middle East in bilateral security was first launched in June 2004, just months after Scheffer was appointed Secretary General, in Istanbul and has been called the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI). With two main objectives, fighting terrorism and nuclear proliferation, the ICI includes four of the six GCC countries: Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE.
"We share a common interest in the future of Iraq and Afghanistan. We share a common interest in the future and stability of the Middle East. Today it makes imminent sense for all of our nations to ally because we all face the same issues," Scheffer said.
ICI members are not Nato members, but a part of a cooperative initiative. Scheffer said the alliance is integral to the progress of the region. "There can be no development without security, but the opposite is also true. There can be no security without development," Scheffer said.
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