The
Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) is an initiative launched during
NATOThe North Atlantic Treaty Organization ); ), also called "the Atlantic Alliance", is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949...
's
2004 Istanbul summitThe 2004 Istanbul summit was held in Istanbul, Turkey from June 28 to June 29, 2004. It was the 17th NATO summit in which NATO's Heads of State and Governments met to make formal decisions about security topics...
.
During this summit, NATO leaders decided to elevate the Alliance’s
Mediterranean DialogueThe Mediterranean Dialogue, first launched in 1994, is a forum of cooperation between NATO and seven countries of the Mediterranean. Its stated aim is "to create good relations and better mutual understanding and confidence throughout the region, promoting regional security and stability and...
to a genuine partnership and to launch the ICI with selected countries in the broader region of the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. The initiative is an offer to engage in practical security cooperation activities with states throughout the
Greater Middle EastThe Greater Middle East is a political term coined by the Bush administration to englobe together various countries, pertaining to the Muslim world, specifically Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Various Central Asian countries and the lower Caucasus and Cyprus and Greece are sometimes also...
. This new initiative stands alongside NATO's
Partnership for PeacePartnership for Peace is a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation program aimed at creating trust between NATO and other states in Europe and the former Soviet Union; 23 States are members...
Program and the
Mediterranean DialogueThe Mediterranean Dialogue, first launched in 1994, is a forum of cooperation between NATO and seven countries of the Mediterranean. Its stated aim is "to create good relations and better mutual understanding and confidence throughout the region, promoting regional security and stability and...
.
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The
Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) is an initiative launched during
NATOThe North Atlantic Treaty Organization ); ), also called "the Atlantic Alliance", is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949...
's
2004 Istanbul summitThe 2004 Istanbul summit was held in Istanbul, Turkey from June 28 to June 29, 2004. It was the 17th NATO summit in which NATO's Heads of State and Governments met to make formal decisions about security topics...
.
During this summit, NATO leaders decided to elevate the Alliance’s
Mediterranean DialogueThe Mediterranean Dialogue, first launched in 1994, is a forum of cooperation between NATO and seven countries of the Mediterranean. Its stated aim is "to create good relations and better mutual understanding and confidence throughout the region, promoting regional security and stability and...
to a genuine partnership and to launch the ICI with selected countries in the broader region of the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. The initiative is an offer to engage in practical security cooperation activities with states throughout the
Greater Middle EastThe Greater Middle East is a political term coined by the Bush administration to englobe together various countries, pertaining to the Muslim world, specifically Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Various Central Asian countries and the lower Caucasus and Cyprus and Greece are sometimes also...
. This new initiative stands alongside NATO's
Partnership for PeacePartnership for Peace is a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation program aimed at creating trust between NATO and other states in Europe and the former Soviet Union; 23 States are members...
Program and the
Mediterranean DialogueThe Mediterranean Dialogue, first launched in 1994, is a forum of cooperation between NATO and seven countries of the Mediterranean. Its stated aim is "to create good relations and better mutual understanding and confidence throughout the region, promoting regional security and stability and...
. NATO itself regards these security cooperation partnerships as a response to the new challenges of the 21st century and as a complement to the
G8The Group of Eight is a forum, created by France in 1975, for governments of the six richest countries in the world: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 1976, Canada joined the group...
and U.S.-EU decisions to support calls for reform from within the Broader Middle East region. The ICI offers practical cooperation with interested nations in the Greater Middle East in such areas as:
- Counter-WMD
WMD may refer to:* Weapon of mass destruction, a term used to describe munitions with the capacity to kill large numbers of human beings indiscriminately* Weighted mean difference, a measure in statistical meta-analysis...
;
- Counterterrorism;
- Training and education;
- Participation in NATO exercises;
- Promoting military interoperability;
- Disaster preparedness and civil emergency planning;
- Tailored advice on defense reform and civil-military relations; and
- Cooperation on border security to help prevent illicit trafficking of drugs, weapons, and people.