(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg ruled out Wednesday any military role to stop the influx of refugees from the Middle East and Africa to Europe and suggested that the migrant crisis needs to be solved by police and home interior affairs means.
"There is no military solution to the migrant crisis but what NATO does is working with partners in the Middle East, in North Africa we are working with them to address the root causes of the migrant crisis," Stoltenberg, now on a visit to Luxembourg, said.
"The migrant crisis in Europe has profound effect on all of us and this is a human tragedy. The immediate challenges are dealt by the EU and it's more a home and police affairs which is dealt by the EU and not by NATO," he told the joint press conference with Prime Minister Xavier Bette of Luxembourg.
Stoltenberg stated that "NATO is playing a role both by fighting terrorism by trying to stabilise our neighbourhood especially in the south." He thanked Bettel for Luxembourg's political, military, and financial contributions to the 28-member Alliance and expressed his appreciation for its support to NATO's engagement in Kosovo and Afghanistan, and the Grand Duchy's investment in high-tech military capabilities, particularly satellite communications. He also welcomed Luxembourg's new financial contributions to a NATO trust fund for defence capacity building. On his part, Bettel said they discussed the programme of Luxembourg's current EU Presidency and also preparations for the next NATO summit in Warsaw in 2016. He declared Luxembourg has also decided to make a voluntary contribution to NATO's trust fund for defence capacity building of 250,000 euro for 2015. "This money will be especially used for the Middle East; the region is under a lot of pressure as countries have to help many refugees. This will be a contribution to stabilise the region including the fight against the ISIL," said the PM of Luxembourg.
Later on Wednesday,. Stoltenberg is having an audience with Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg and attend an informal dinner with EU Defence Ministers.
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