For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 28, 2004
Fact Sheet: The Istanbul Cooperation Initiative
NATO leaders have decided today to launch the Istanbul Cooperation
Initiative, an offer to engage in practical security cooperation
activities with states throughout the Broader Middle East. This new
initiative stands alongside NATO's long-standing Partnership for Peace
program and Mediterranean Dialogue. These security cooperation
partnerships are part of the way NATO is responding to the new
challenges of the 21st century.
The Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) offers practical
cooperation with interested nations in the Broader Middle East in such
areas as:
- Counterterrorism;
- Counter-WMD;
- Cooperation on border security to help prevent illicit trafficking of drugs, weapons, and people;
- Disaster preparedness and civil emergency planning;
- Training and education;
- Participation in NATO exercises;
- Tailored advice on defense reform and civil-military relations; and
- Promoting military interoperability.
The Istanbul Cooperation Initiative complements the G-8 and U.S.-EU
decisions to support calls for reform from within the Broader Middle
East region.
Alliance leaders also agreed today to enhance NATO's existing
Mediterranean Dialogue, which was established in 1994 as a vehicle for
promoting cooperation with states in the Mediterranean and North
Africa.
# # #
|