NATO Recommends Ties With GCC

Middle East Newsline:

NATO has recommended the establishment of close ties with Gulf Arab states. NATO officials said the alliance has determined the need for strong relations with Gulf Cooperation Council states as part of an effort to increase defense and security cooperation with the Arab world.

They said the relations with GCC states would be in the areas of border security, intelligence exchange and training.

A key focus of GCC-NATO relations would be counter-insurgency, officials said. They said the NATO recommendations regarded counter-insurgency cooperation as vital for the prevention of terrorist financing and the flow of insurgents into Europe and North America.

Another recommendation called for NATO-GCC cooperation to halt the flow of weapons of mass destruction proliferation throughout the Persian Gulf. In 2003, the United States regarded the United Arab Emirates, particularly the port of Dubai as a major way-station of WMD to such countries as Iran and Libya.