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WEBEDITION
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Strengthening cooperation in the Mediterranean:
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The profound changes in the European security climate over the last decade have also impacted on the Mediterranean Sea region. The increasing strategic importance of the region stems from the growing realisation that security in Europe is closely linked with security and stability in the Mediterranean. Twenty-two states border the Mediterranean. The multidimensional character of this security environment suggests the need for a comprehensive vision of security, one that takes into account not only political and military requirements but also socio-economic, environmental and cultural factors. In fact, many of the security-related concerns that have come to the fore in the region after the end of the Cold War are non-military issues that may interact with more traditional security risks. Attempts at generating a dialogue in the region date back to the early 1970s, but these were relatively ineffective due to the conditions prevailing at the time of the East-West confrontation. The end of the Cold War has lifted many of the constraints on the type of regional cooperation that can effectively address these challenges in the Mediterranean.
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Cooperation Frameworks in the Mediterranean (33Kb) |
NATO looks to the Mediterranean as a region with its own specific dynamics and challenges, and with a still largely untapped potential for dialogue and cooperation in security matters. The objective of its Mediterranean Dialogue is primarily political: to increase understanding of NATO's policies and activities and get a better appreciation of the security needs of the countries involved. It is also by necessity differentiated, starting with the idea that the same solutions and methods of cooperation cannot be applied wholesale to the entire area and taking into account the political, socio-economic, cultural and religious diversity of the region.
The Mediterranean Dialogue was given a new dynamism at the Madrid Summit in July 1997 when the Mediterranean Cooperation Group was created.(1) Through the MCG, NATO member states are directly involved in political discussions with Mediterranean Dialogue countries, thus providing a forum for an exchange of views on the security situation in the Mediterranean.
The first political discussions between the allies and individual participant countries took place in late 1997; the most recent was in November 1998. Although the Dialogue is predominantly bilateral, multilateral meetings also take place, particularly in the form of information sessions and briefings specifically for officials from Dialogue countries. In addition, allies have met regularly within the framework of the MCG to discuss policy and other matters of direct relevance to the Dialogue. The creation of the MCG has added a high degree of visibility to the Alliance's Mediterranean dimension.
 Egyptian SFOR soldiers with Kosovo refugees in Sarajevo on 13 October. Egypt is one of the three Dialogue countries that have cooperated militarily with the Alliance in the NATO-led IFOR/SFOR operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Belga photo 48Kb) |
Information is a key component of the initiative, facilitating mutual understanding between the Alliance and Dialogue countries. NATO has supported conferences and seminars for representatives from NATO and Dialogue countries, including last year's top-level Rome conference on NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue, co-sponsored with the Italian Centro Militare di Studi Strategici, in November 1997.(2) On that occasion, a RAND study on the future of the Dialogue commissioned by the Italian Ministry of Defence was presented to NATO's top political and military authorities, as well as to representatives of the Mediterranean Dialogue countries and other organisations.(3) A follow-up event is slated for February 1999, when the Spanish government and NATO will co-sponsor an international seminar on the Mediterranean Dialogue and the new NATO, in Valencia, Spain.
NATO also awarded its first Institutional Fellowships to scholars from the region in 1998, following a successful pattern established for partner countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Five fellowships have been awarded to scholars from Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania and Morocco. These research topics include such issues as Eastern Mediterranean security, Economic aspects of security cooperation in the Mediterranean region and Competing security and cooperation visions in the Arab world.
Other information activities have included visits of opinion leaders, academics, journalists and officials from Mediterranean Dialogue countries to NATO Headquarters. For instance, in October 1998, opinion leaders representing such institutions as the Iba Khadun Centre for Development Studies in Egypt, the University of Nouakchott in Mauritania and the Tunisian Institute of Strategic Studies, came to NATO for briefings on the Mediterranean initiative. Parliamentarians from the foreign affairs and defence committees of all six Mediterranean Dialogue countries were also invited to come to Brussels for a briefing in December.
Another important step in the effort to exchange information was the decision taken by Alliance foreign ministers in May to establish "Contact Point Embassies" in Mediterranean Dialogue countries. Under this system, similar to that which has been successfully operating in Central and Eastern European partner countries since 1992, the embassy of a NATO member country will represent the Alliance in each Dialogue country.
Another key element of the Alliance's Mediterranean work programme is in Civil Emergency Planning (CEP). Some Mediterranean countries have already been invited to participate in several CEP activities this year, including courses at the NATO School in Oberammergau on civil-military cooperation in response to natural or man-made disasters, as well as conferences and seminars in Portugal, Austria and Hungary.
In addition, NATO - together with the Greek authorities - sponsored a seminar on Natural disaster reduction in the Mediterranean basin designed specifically for Mediterranean Dialogue countries and held in Athens in November 1998. The seminar brought together heads of CEP agencies from NATO and Mediterranean Dialogue countries for the first time. The event was a forum for both the exchange of information and for professional and personal contacts among civil emergency planning experts.
NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue has also promoted scientific cooperation through the NATO Science Programme. In 1998, funds enabled Mediterranean Dialogue country scientists to participate in NATO-sponsored Advanced Research Workshops, Advanced Study Institutes, Collaborative Research Grants and Science Fellowships. For example, one recent workshop co-directed by a Greek and an Israeli scientist took up the subject of Unconventional optical elements for information storage, processing and communications. Scientists from Jordan and Morocco also participated in the workshop.
NATO's military authorities have devised a military concept specifically designed for the Mediterranean Dialogue countries which includes three main components: courses at the NATO School in Oberammergau, courses and other academic activities at the NATO Defense College in Rome, and specific activities to be conducted under the responsibility of Allied Command Europe (ACE) and Allied Command Atlantic (ACLANT).
In 1998, Dialogue countries sent students to the NATO School in Oberammergau to study environmental protection, peacekeeping, multinational forces, conventional arms control implementation, and European security cooperation. There is also a course in civil-military cooperation for civil emergency management available to Dialogue country participants and, given the strong interest shown in crisis management, a course will also open up in this field.
The NATO Defense College in Rome offered its first "General and Flag Officers Course" specifically intended for Mediterranean Dialogue country representatives in April 1998 with participation from all six Dialogue countries. The course, which was also attended by participants from NATO countries, provided an opportunity to learn more about current Alliance issues and to examine NATO's role in European security cooperation, and it covered in detail NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue. A Mediterranean international research seminar was also planned at the College for December 1998, with the aim of increasing understanding between researchers and experts in security studies from NATO and its member states and from Mediterranean Dialogue countries.
In terms of exercises, NATO's two major commands offered 34 military activities to Mediterranean Dialogue countries in 1998, including observing PfP activities in the fields of search and rescue, maritime safety and medical evacuation, as well as exercises related to peace support and humanitarian relief. In this regard, three of the Mediterranean Dialogue countries - Egypt, Jordan and Morocco - have already cooperated militarily with the Alliance in the NATO-led IFOR/SFOR operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The political dimension:
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The future of the Mediterranean Dialogue will be influenced to a large extent by developments in two other regional fora, the EU's Barcelona process and the Middle East peace process. Both aim at enhancing stability and improving security cooperation in the region. The success or failure of these two very different processes will have a considerable effect on the region as a whole. Thus it is in the interest of all allies to ensure that both processes are alive and functioning well if NATO's own bridge-building effort is to be successful.
NATO's contribution should be to continue to strengthen the Mediterranean Dialogue by concentrating on fields where it has a clear comparative advantage: defence and security. This will complement the initiatives of other organisations and contribute to constructive relations with NATO's Mediterranean neighbours. In this regard, NATO should consider developing additional military cooperation venues and increasing participation of Dialogue countries in peace support and other military-related activities.
The success of NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue depends on the active participation and strong support by both NATO members and Dialogue countries alike, working together to build the trust and transparency required for a true partnership. n
For further details on the Rome conference, see Nicola de Santis, "The future of NATO's Mediterranean initiative", NATO Review, No. 1, Spring 1998, pp. 32-35.
See F. Stephen Larrabee, Jerrold Green, Ian O. Lesser and Michele Zanini, NATO's Mediterranean Initiative. Policy Issues and Dilemmas, Santa Monica, CA RAND, 1998.
