24 Jan 2007
The new UN Secretary General praised NATO-UN cooperation in the field and discussed strengthening cooperation at the institutional level during his first visit to NATO HQ, 24 January.
Mr. Ban Ki-moon met with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and held informal consultations with the Ambassadors of the NATO member countries.
Among other issues, they exchanged views on ways of strengthening institutional cooperation between NATO and the UN.
“I am very much assured and encouraged by what NATO has been contributing to peace and security around the world,” said Mr. Ban Ki-moon, “We have the same goals, we are committed to work very closely together in the future.”
NATO Secretary General De Hoop Scheffer said closer cooperation was important as NATO’s forces increasingly operate under a UN mandate and alongside UN missions to bring peace and stability, for example in Kosovo and Afghanistan.
“There is the need for a close relationship between the United Nations and NATO, more and more you see NATO forces operating under an UN umbrella,” he told reporters.
This was Mr. Ban Ki-moon’s second ‘first’ visit to NATO Headquarters. His previous first visit was as Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea in December 2005, the first visit by a senior Korean official to NATO.
