NATO Secretary General hails strong cooperation with Iraq

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NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, visited Iraq on 4-5 February 2025, together with Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), U.S. Army General Christopher G. Cavoli. During his trip, he met with the President, Dr. Abdul Latif Rashid, the Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudani, and other high level officials of the Iraqi government, with whom he exchanged views on a range of topics, including the role of NATO Mission Iraq (NMI), the NATO-Iraq partnership, and the security situation in the region. He also met with the NMI Commander, Lieutenant General Lucas Schreurs, other NMI personnel and the NATO diplomatic community in Baghdad.

“Since 2018, through its advising and capacity-building efforts, NATO Mission Iraq has contributed to make Iraqi security forces, institutions and structures more effective, inclusive and sustainable for the long term. I congratulate our Iraqi partners and NMI’s leadership and personnel for the excellent level of cooperation developed, in several domains, including security education, logistics, cyber defence, and good governance,” the Secretary General said. “Together we have achieved a lot through our NATO-Iraq partnership. Upon request from the Iraqi authorities and in full respect of Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, we are evolving the scope of our activities, in support to Iraq’s ongoing efforts towards lasting security and stability for all of its citizens,” he added.

At the NATO Summit in Brussels in July 2018, Allied leaders launched NATO Mission Iraq, following a request and upon invitation from the Government of Iraq. The mission was established in Baghdad in October 2018. Its current commander is Lieutenant General Lucas Schreurs, from the Netherlands.

NATO Mission Iraq is a non-combat advisory and capacity-building mission that assists Iraq in building more sustainable, transparent, inclusive and effective security institutions and forces, so that they themselves are able to stabilise their country, fight terrorism, and prevent the return of ISIS/Daesh. To achieve this, NATO advises relevant Iraqi defence and security officials in the Ministry of Defence, Office of the National Security Advisor, Prime Minister’s National Operations Centre, and the Federal Police Command within the Iraqi Ministry of Interior. The mission also advises Iraq’s professional military education institutions in the greater Baghdad area. Iraqi authorities have identified a number of primary objectives for cooperation with NMI. These include security education, logistics, cyber defence, and good governance.