Opening remarks

Thank you, Minister.

On behalf of the North Atlantic Council, we are grateful to you and the government of Kuwait for your generous hospitality.

It is a great pleasure to open this meeting of the North Atlantic Council first meeting here in Kuwait.

We are joined today by our three other Istanbul Cooperation Initiative partners: Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

And I am pleased to welcome also Oman and Saudi Arabia to the table, as well as the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Earlier today we celebrated a historic milestone: the opening of the NATO-ICI Regional Centre in Kuwait.

This is NATO’s first such presence in the Gulf region.

And it will help us strengthen our partnership in new ways.

Including civil emergency planning, military-to-military cooperation, and public diplomacy including the fight against terrorism.

This is important, since NATO Allies and our Gulf partners share many security challenges. Including the threats of terrorism and extremism.

To counter these threats, we must work closer together than ever before.

And that is exactly what we are doing.

I am proud to say that NATO has a new home in Kuwait and in the Gulf region.

We are committed to working with you, our partners, to enhance regional security.

With that, Minister, thank you once again for hosting the North Atlantic Council here in Kuwait. Thank you so much.