ID :
165001
Tue, 03/01/2011 - 12:51
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/165001
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NATO chief Rasmussen: "We attach great importance to our Gulf partners"
Nawab Khan BRUSSELS, March 1 (KUNA) -- The Secretary-General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen , has commended the leadership and people of Kuwait for the achievements since its independence fifty year ago. "It is remarkable what we have seen, a rapid development of society, a prosperous society, a stable society. Kuwait plays a stabilising role in the region," he told the Kuwait news agency KUNA in an exclusive interview in Brussels.
On the occasion of 20th anniversary of Kuwait's liberation from the regime of Saddam Hussein, Rasmussen pointed to it as an example of international cooperation and effort.
"It was a broad international coalition that took action mandated by the United Nations and the liberation of Kuwait is an excellent example of what can b e achieved when the international community is united and determined to uphold basic principles of international law," said Rasmussen, a former prime minister of Denmark.
Turning to NATO-Gulf ties, the NATO chief said "I attach a very strong importance to our partners with the Gulf countries. " He mentioned that NATO recently held a joint seminar with the members of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) in Qatar.
"We have very good relations with each of the four Gulf partners within the ICI," he stressed.
Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE are members of the ICI which was launched in 2004 to boost defence cooperation with NATO.
"At the meeting in Qatar and with my meetings with the leadership of Qatar we discussed how we can develop our partnership," Rasmussen noted and mentioned energy security as one of the issues of great interest to all and added that he hoped we can develop cooperation further in that area in the coming years. Commenting on the recent e vents in North Africa related to the revolution in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia he expressed his optimism about those developments.
"The Middle East and North Africa will profit from the democratic revolution we are now witnessing because the freedom now spreading will generate new progress and I hope that we will see a peaceful transition to a stable democracy," he said.
Rasmussen joined the voices of other western leaders calling on Muammar Gaddafi of Libya to quit and he said that NATO is planning for all eventualities.
"Mr.Gaddafi should leave , the sooner the better," Rasmussen told KUNA.
"It is absolutely outrageous what he has done against his own people and I think like in other countries the Libyan leadership should accommodate the legitimate demands of their own people to introduce freedom and democracy," he said. "The Libyan people have raised legitimate grievances and they should be accommodated and the only way in which that could be done I think is that he quits, the sooner the better," noted the chief of the 28-member Alliance. Rasmussen stressed that that "whatever happens we have to operate within the mandates from the United Nations. " He pointed out that "the UN Security Council decided unanimously on a resolution last Saturday, a resolution that at this stage excludes the use of armed forces. However, it is also a very strong resolution that introduces an arms embargo, a freeze of assets, travel ban of leading members of the Libyan leadership." "NATO as such has no intention to interfere actively but of course we do prudent planning for all eventualities if at a certain stage there would be a request for assistance," he added. On Afghanistan, Rasmussen said "we are witnessing a lot of progress in Afghanistan. Yes, there is a lot of fighting but it is due to the fact that we have sent in more soldiers and are attacking Taliban strongholds in the south in Kerman and Kandahar." "Our goal is to gradually handover respons ibility to Afghan security forces and we will start this process shortly. I expect to make a decision in March on the first group of provinces and districts to be transferred to lead Afghan responsibility and we will continue that process and hopefully see it completed by the end of 2014," he said.
He urged the Gulf countries to assist and contribute to NATO's training mission in Afghanistan. "It could be through training activities, it could be through trainers, it could be through funds provided to the particular trust fund to train Afghan security forces. In this area contribution from the Gulf countries would be highly appreciated," he underlined. Rasmussen said the core task of NATO will remain to protect the Euro-Atlantic area. However, he said in today's world we have to realise that the defence of our own borders very often starts beyond our borders like in Afghanistan.
"We are primarily in Afghanistan to protect our own citizens against terrorism and to preven t the country from becoming once again a safe haven for terrorist that could launch terrorist attacks against Europe or North America, " he said.
Referring to NATO's training mission of security forces in Iraq, Rasmussen said he hoped that they could find funds to finance a continuation of the training mission.
"The Iraqi government has requested a prolongation of the training mission in Iraq and we are currently talking with NATO member states to find financial means for the continuation of the mission," he said.
"This training mission has been very successful and this is the reason why the Iraqi government itself has requested the prolongation of the mission," he added. (end) nk.bz.
On the occasion of 20th anniversary of Kuwait's liberation from the regime of Saddam Hussein, Rasmussen pointed to it as an example of international cooperation and effort.
"It was a broad international coalition that took action mandated by the United Nations and the liberation of Kuwait is an excellent example of what can b e achieved when the international community is united and determined to uphold basic principles of international law," said Rasmussen, a former prime minister of Denmark.
Turning to NATO-Gulf ties, the NATO chief said "I attach a very strong importance to our partners with the Gulf countries. " He mentioned that NATO recently held a joint seminar with the members of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) in Qatar.
"We have very good relations with each of the four Gulf partners within the ICI," he stressed.
Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE are members of the ICI which was launched in 2004 to boost defence cooperation with NATO.
"At the meeting in Qatar and with my meetings with the leadership of Qatar we discussed how we can develop our partnership," Rasmussen noted and mentioned energy security as one of the issues of great interest to all and added that he hoped we can develop cooperation further in that area in the coming years. Commenting on the recent e vents in North Africa related to the revolution in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia he expressed his optimism about those developments.
"The Middle East and North Africa will profit from the democratic revolution we are now witnessing because the freedom now spreading will generate new progress and I hope that we will see a peaceful transition to a stable democracy," he said.
Rasmussen joined the voices of other western leaders calling on Muammar Gaddafi of Libya to quit and he said that NATO is planning for all eventualities.
"Mr.Gaddafi should leave , the sooner the better," Rasmussen told KUNA.
"It is absolutely outrageous what he has done against his own people and I think like in other countries the Libyan leadership should accommodate the legitimate demands of their own people to introduce freedom and democracy," he said. "The Libyan people have raised legitimate grievances and they should be accommodated and the only way in which that could be done I think is that he quits, the sooner the better," noted the chief of the 28-member Alliance. Rasmussen stressed that that "whatever happens we have to operate within the mandates from the United Nations. " He pointed out that "the UN Security Council decided unanimously on a resolution last Saturday, a resolution that at this stage excludes the use of armed forces. However, it is also a very strong resolution that introduces an arms embargo, a freeze of assets, travel ban of leading members of the Libyan leadership." "NATO as such has no intention to interfere actively but of course we do prudent planning for all eventualities if at a certain stage there would be a request for assistance," he added. On Afghanistan, Rasmussen said "we are witnessing a lot of progress in Afghanistan. Yes, there is a lot of fighting but it is due to the fact that we have sent in more soldiers and are attacking Taliban strongholds in the south in Kerman and Kandahar." "Our goal is to gradually handover respons ibility to Afghan security forces and we will start this process shortly. I expect to make a decision in March on the first group of provinces and districts to be transferred to lead Afghan responsibility and we will continue that process and hopefully see it completed by the end of 2014," he said.
He urged the Gulf countries to assist and contribute to NATO's training mission in Afghanistan. "It could be through training activities, it could be through trainers, it could be through funds provided to the particular trust fund to train Afghan security forces. In this area contribution from the Gulf countries would be highly appreciated," he underlined. Rasmussen said the core task of NATO will remain to protect the Euro-Atlantic area. However, he said in today's world we have to realise that the defence of our own borders very often starts beyond our borders like in Afghanistan.
"We are primarily in Afghanistan to protect our own citizens against terrorism and to preven t the country from becoming once again a safe haven for terrorist that could launch terrorist attacks against Europe or North America, " he said.
Referring to NATO's training mission of security forces in Iraq, Rasmussen said he hoped that they could find funds to finance a continuation of the training mission.
"The Iraqi government has requested a prolongation of the training mission in Iraq and we are currently talking with NATO member states to find financial means for the continuation of the mission," he said.
"This training mission has been very successful and this is the reason why the Iraqi government itself has requested the prolongation of the mission," he added. (end) nk.bz.
