Secretary General stresses need for further cooperation with Qatar
The NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen concluded his first bilateral visit to the State of Qatar. During his visit from 14 to 16 February 2011, he was received by the Emir of Qatar, H.E. Sheikh Hamad Bin-Khalifah Al-Thani, by the Crown Prince, H.E. Sheikh Tamim Bin-Hamad Bin Khalifah Al-Thani, and he had consultations with government and military officials including the Chief of Staff of the Qatar Armed Forces, H. E. Hamad Bin Ali Al-Attiyah.
Following a successful ambassadorial conference on NATO-ICI cooperation on 15 February, the Secretary General and the Council in permanent session visited the dynamic industrial city of Ras Laffan, the world's largest exporting facility for Liquefied Natural Gas on 16 February. Qatar owns around 20 percent of the world's proven gas reserves.
In his discussions, the Secretary General underlined that NATO saw potential for strengthened cooperation in the future, largely because both NATO Allies and Gulf partners face complex new threats. "We see scope for more cooperation in the future. At the NATO Summit, we decided to further develop our partnerships", the Secretary General said. "We are enhancing security policy consultations on all issues that might be of interest to partners. We are also offering greater practical cooperation, by fully opening our tool-box of cooperation projects to all our partners, including the Gulf states." The Secretary General further added, "there is potential to do more together -- for instance on energy security, an emerging challenge that we all face".