Doha hosts "NATO role in Gulf security" conference

Foreign Information Agency of the State of Qatar-Thu 01-12-2005

A day-long conference discussing the role of the NATO in Gulf security opens in the four seasons hotel in Doha on Thursday December 1, 2005.
The two-session conference would deal with two key
themes, namely new dimensions for gulf security and
GCC cooperation with the NATO.

The NATO Secretary General is taking part in the conference
together with representatives of GCC defense ministers,
chiefs of staff of GCC armed forces and top international
personalities.

The North Atlantic Alliance was founded on the basis of a Treaty between member states entered into freely by each of them after public debate and due parliamentary process.

The Treaty upholds their individual rights as well as their international obligations in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations. It commits each member country to sharing the risks and responsibilities as well as the benefits of collective security and requires of each of them the undertaking not to enter into any other international commitment which might conflict with the Treaty.

Between the creation of the Alliance and the present day, half a century of history has taken place. For much of this time the central focus of NATO was providing for the immediate defense and security of its member countries. Today this remains its core task, but its immediate focus has undergone fundamental change.