Australia and NATO to Cooperate on Counter-Terrorism

The NATO Secretary General Mr Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and I have today agreed that Australia and NATO’s newly established Terrorist Threat Intelligence Unit will exchange counter-terrorism information and assessments to boost our respective capacities to meet one of world’s most pressing challenges.

My discussions with the Mr de Hoop Scheffer, the first ever NATO Secretary General to visit Australia, covered a wide range of issues including Iraq, Afghanistan, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the security balance in the Asia Pacific region.

Our discussions underlined the importance of taking a global rather than a regional approach to the new security issues we both face.

High on the agenda was the need for increased training of Iraq’s security forces. Australia welcomes NATO’s decision in February that all NATO members would contribute to NATO’s training mission in Iraq.

Australia has also increased our training commitment to Iraq and we have undertaken to share information and look at further cooperation with NATO on our respective training programs.

Media inquiries : Ministerial 02 6277 7500 , DFAT Media Liaison 02 6261 1555