NATO urges member states to help Iraq beef up defence capability
Date
11/24/2017 5:38:48 AM
(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) BRUSSELS, Nov 23 (KUNA) -- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that he has asked all NATO allies to contribute more to the global fight against terrorism and to build defence capacity and training activities in Iraq.
Speaking at a press conference after a meeting with Estonian President, Kersti Kaljulaid, at NATO headquarters, he noted that the Alliance has sent mobile training teams to Iraq for training in medicine, countering improvised explosive devices and help them to organize defence institutions and maintenance of military equipment.
"We are looking into what more we can do because we strongly believe that when (so-called Islamic State) IS is defeated we continue to make sure that Iraq is able to stabilize its own country," he said.
"We have asked our allies to help those training activities," added the NATO chief.
Responding to a question on a recent incident when Turkey withdrew from a NATO exercise in Norway, Stoltenberg said "NATO military authorities are now investigating the details of what happened and are also looking into the procedure to make sure that something like this do not happen again." The NATO chief said he phoned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and expressed his apologies over the incident.
Turkey withdrew 40 of its soldiers participating in the drills at NATO's Joint Warfare Centre in Stavanger, Norway, after Turkey's founding leader, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and Erdogan, were depicted as "enemies." Meanwhile, Stoltenberg praised Estonia for its contribution to the NATO mission in Afghanistan with troops, and for providing funds to finance the Afghan national security forces.
He also announced that Estonia is ready to contribute to the southern flank of NATO which is a new hub established by the Alliance in Naples, Italy, to help in the fight against terrorism.
On her part, Kaljulaid told the joint press conference that Estonia have been participating in international missions far from its borders since many years.
"Our cooperation (with NATO) this year has been very fruitful," she noted. (end) nk.ibi
MENAFN2311201700710000ID1096139024
.jpg)
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.