Jordan Times
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Jordan offers to host
NATO-supported regional Security Cooperation Centre
By Alia Shukri Hamzeh
AMMAN — Jordan has offered to host a NATO-supported regional Security
Cooperation Centre dedicated to training and educating officers from countries
of the Middle East, NATO officials confirmed.
The centre is part of a new Training Cooperation Initiative, under which NATO
will share its training expertise with partners in the Mediterranean and in the
broader Middle East region.
NATO sources confirmed over the weekend that so far Jordan and Qatar have
offered to host the centre, which is the second phase of the training
initiative.
“NATO adds value, the idea is to give your countries some advantages we have.
Cooperation for mutual interest,” a NATO official who preferred anonymity told
The Jordan Times.
For the past year, NATO has been considering launching the education initiative
in which training would be expanded through the partnership deal with
Mediterranean and Gulf countries.
NATO’s ambition is to have joint ownership of the project, whereby the centre is
regionally funded and receives NATO assistance.
On the second day of NATO’s annual summit, held in Latvia last November,
alliance leaders launched the initiative and declared that the organisation was
ready to share its training expertise with its Mediterranean Dialogue (MD) and
Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) countries.
“Our idea is to have an inclusive action of where we put our people together,”
NATO Deputy Secretary General Ambassador Alessandro Minuto Rizzo told reporters
at the end of the summit.
NATO’s Mediterranean dialogue was launched in 1994 to contribute to regional
security and stability, achieve better mutual understanding between the alliance
and its Mediterranean partners — which over the years grew from five to seven to
encompass Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.
It was also regarded as part of efforts to dispel misperceptions about the
alliance among participating countries and an initiative complementary to other
international enterprises such as the EU’s Barcelona Process, which seeks to
promote good relations and open broader channels of communication.
Upon launching the dialogue, cooperation was focused on exchange of information,
civil emergency planning, humanitarian relief and scientific collaboration
between NATO and the Mediterranean partners.
But under the growing security problem facing the region and constant threat of
international terrorism, NATO felt the need to transform the cooperation into a
hardcore partnership.
In 2002, the dialogue was upgraded to security matters of concern and in 2004
NATO elevated its dialogue status to genuine partnerships and an expanded
framework of cooperation.
It also launched the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) — a separate but
complementary programme to promote practical cooperation with Gulf countries.
NATO officials said they were pleased with the progress made in the partnership
process, noting that each year witnesses an 80-100 per cent improvement over the
previous year in fields such as military activities, exercises, training courses
and public diplomacy.
The next step is to increase genuine and practical cooperation and move beyond
the point of discussion.
The issue of more training has been suggested for Jordanian officers. Between
one to three attend NATO courses each year. Rizzo said the number of
participants from partner countries in NATO activities would amount to 1,000.
“Since some time, there is discussion on how to advance our partnership. We move
the partnership of peace to the dialogue and the ICI and onward. We don’t know
in the end what kind of institutions will be built, but we realise that a series
of networks will be created and we know that your countries will be at the heart
of the dialogue,” Rizzo said.
With regard to the training cooperation initiative, Rizzo said the first phase
of the project includes expanding MD and ICI countries’ participation in
relevant existing NATO training and education programmes, partnership tools to
meet the needs of allies and partner countries.
Officials estimate the establishment of a Middle Eastern faculty at the NATO
Defence College in Rome as early as this spring.
For the second phase, NATO plans to support the establishment of a Security
Cooperation Centre in the region, to be owned by the MD and ICI countries, with
regional funding and NATO assistance.
Jordan, which entered NATO’s partnership deal in 1995, has also requested NATO
for a specific trust fund that is meant to assist the country in special areas
like dismantling landmines and destroying dangerous chemicals, NATO officials
said.
Trust funds are relatively new instruments, in which NATO’s expertise is
combined with funding from interested nations to assist certain security related
fields. NATO officials said the alliance is considering the trust fund.