NATO/Israel

On 11 Jan­u­ary 2009 NATO Sec­re­tary Gen­er­al Jaap de Hoop Schef­fer paid an offi­cial vis­it to Israel, in the frame­work of the Mediter­ranean Dia­logue.

Dur­ing the vis­it, the Sec­re­tary Gen­er­al had bilat­er­al talks the Prime Min­is­ter H.E. Mr. Ehud Olmert, Vice Prime Min­is­ter and For­eign Min­is­ter H.E. Ms. Tzipi Livni and Defence Min­is­ter H.E. Mr. Ehud Barak. He also met the leader of the oppo­si­tion Mr. Ben­jamin Nettanyahu. 

In addi­tion to NATO-Israel coop­er­a­tion in the frame­work of the Mediter­ranean Dia­logue, the region­al secu­ri­ty sit­u­a­tion was also discussed. 

Dur­ing a speech at an event joint­ly orga­nized in Tel Aviv by the Insti­tute for Nation­al Secu­ri­ty Stud­ies and the Atlantic Forum of Israel, the Sec­re­tary Gen­er­al said that: “Israel has been a most enthu­si­as­tic Mediter­ranean Dia­logue part­ner and that tells me that this coun­try knows full well about the Dia­logue and about the ben­e­fits that it brings”. ”There is a grow­ing aware­ness among all Dia­logue part­ners that this frame­work can become more than the mere sum of its parts”. 

Source:
NATO