(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) BRUSSELS, June 28 (KUNA) -- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced Wednesday that the Alliance Defence Ministers meeting in Brussels on Thursday will take stock of NATO's work to fight terrorism. Speaking at a press conference ahead of the meeting, he noted that last month the 29-member Alliance joined the Global Coalition to defeat the so-called Islamic State.
"This not only sends a strong message of unity in the fight against terrorism; it also serves as a platform for practical cooperation," he said.
On Iraq, he said NATO's Senior Civilian Representative, Paul Smith, took up office earlier this month adding that he will lead efforts to strengthen the Iraqi security institutions, and "oversee our training for Iraqi forces." Stoltenberg announced that at NATO Headquarters, a new Intelligence Division is now up and running and within the division, a new Hybrid Branch and a Terrorism Intelligence Cell have become operational this week. "Their work will help us better understand and counter the threat of terrorism and foreign fighters. NATO's work to fight terrorism involves many different initiatives. Ranging from intelligence to capacity building and training, from Europe to the Middle East," he said.
The NATO Secretary General announced the appointment of his deputy Rose Gottemoeller, to coordinate the Alliance's efforts . "Her appointment demonstrates that fighting terrorism is a top priority at the highest levels of NATO," he stressed.
Stoltenberg announced that defence spending across the Alliance is expected to grow by 4.3% in 2017. "That is three consecutive years of accelerating defence spending. This means, over the last three years, European Allies and Canada spent almost 46 billion US dollars more on defence," he said.
Tomorrow the NATO chief will also present a progress report on NATO-EU cooperation to ministers and the one-day ministerial will close with a meeting on Afghanistan in the presence of Afghan acting defence minister Tariq Shah Bahrami. (end) nk.rk
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