(VEE) NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL VISITS KUWAIT

(VELINO) Roma, 31 Jan - The Italian Permanent Representative at NATO, Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero, traveled to Kuwait on 23 and 24 January, with the members of the Atlantic Council and the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, for the inauguration of the NATO Istanbul Cooperation Initiative Regional Center (ICI). This partnership has been gathering together, since 2004, the Atlantic Alliance, Kuwait, the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar. The mission represented a major and visible sign of concern for the country and the region confirming, at the level of political dialogue and communication, the relaunching of NATO in the area as announced at the Warsaw Summit. This is also to underline the overall projection of stability to common security threats. Following the inauguration, during the formal meeting, Ambassador Bisogniero recalled representing Italy (a NATO Contact Point country in Kuwait) and the progress made in the cooperation with the Alliance and the enhanced role played by Kuwait at a regional level. Moreover, the diplomat announced the intention of Italy to participate actively in the works of the Centre. The Ambassador highlighted the possible synergies between the Centre in Kuwait and the NATO Defense College (NDC) in Rome and the JFC Command in Naples. Other potential possibilities mentioned by the dignitary are having the Centre serve as an incubator to develop fruitful new collaborations in cyber and maritime fields, Science for Peace, and situational awareness contexts. It would thus contribute, as underlined by Mr. Stoltenberg, to the long-term stability of the region. vel
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