"The most important part is NATO presence in Kuwait and how this is perceived by Kuwaiti officials … We are going in the right direction," said Vice-Admiral Maurizio Gemignani, Commander of NATO’s of Allied Maritime Component Command in Naples, Italy.
He was interviewed by KUNA about the visit of three vessels of Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2) which docked at Shuwaikh Port Tuesday morning.
Cooperation between Kuwait and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is within the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) which was launched in a NATO summit in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2004. In the same year, Kuwait became the first GCC country to join the ICI.
"We will organize activities with Kuwaiti navy … and discuss on board the signals and maneuvers," said Gemignani while talking about the technical side of NATO vessels’ visit.
NATO provides every ICI member with tailor-made assistance related to defense, security, counter-terrorism and intelligence sharing, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), border security and illegal trafficking, and how to deal with disasters.
"It is my impressing that the alliance is something that can be trusted and from which every ICI country can get some benefits in terms of security and training and grow together through knowledge, capabilities and confidence," said Gemignani.
He said that building confidence required "lots of work and good will." "It seems to me that both sides (NATO and Kuwait) are ready and really can provide the necessary means to achieve the main goals of the ICI," he added.
The NATO senior officer met on Tuesday with Deputy president of the National Security Bureau Sheikh Thamer Ali Sabah Al-Sabah and discussed importance of strategic cooperation and moving on to implementation within the framework of ICI.
The ICI, noted both officials, emphasized the importance of exchanging military and security expertise in countering terrorism, securing borders, and tackling other threats resultant from proliferation of WMD through training and other activities.
Vice-Admiral Gemignani, meanwhile, spoke about NATO Operation Allied Provider in which the military alliance is providing escort and protection to World Food Program (WFP) ships carrying relief supplies to Somalia.
This operation is in line with a NATO defense ministers’ decision, adopted at the behest of UN Secretary General’s escort and protection request.
"The NATO alliance decided to answer positively to the request by the UN Secretary General to provide escort to WFP assistance for the Somali people," said Gemignani.
SNMG2 vessels were heading to the Gulf region, as planned over year ago, but changed plans in line to accommodate with last month’s UN request, thus splitting SNMG2 into two sub-groups with one going on with the ICI country visit and the other providing escort and deterrence of piracy in Somali waters.
As to his assessment to Operation Allied Provider, Gemignani said it was going quite well giving that coordination of escort activities was not easy because sometimes only 6-12 hour notice was given for an escort request, so "you never know how much spare time you have for maintenance, refueling and repair." However, he added, "We are very well determined to provide escort as ordered." Two vessels are used for escort and one for patrolling Somali waters, explained the Vice-Admiral.
Navy ships from other countries are also patrolling the Somali waters, said Gemignani, citing vessels from Russia, Pakistan, India and the coalition task force already stationed in the region.
Operation Allied Provider is not indefinite, he said. "Officially we will stay there until someone else comes to provide such escort services." The European Union (EU) is preparing to provide escort and protection services before Christmas.
"Officially, we will be there until an EU operation, that should start before Christmas, provide these kinds of duties," he said.
