Wednesday 10 November 2010
The NATO Defense College greatly values today's visit of His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan. Together with his wife Her Royal Highness Princess Sarvath El Hassan and the accompanying Jordan delegation, they were warmly welcomed by the Commandant, Lieutenant General Wolf-Dieter LOESER.
After a round table discussion during which the guest were briefed on the Colleges mission to provide quality education, its structure and on the various courses which are offered, HRH delivered his Keynote Lecture. The audience included the NDC's Senior Course 117 and the fourth NATO Regional Cooperation Course (NRCC-4) as well as Dignitaries from the Kingdom of Morocco, the Sultanate of Oman, the Kingdom of Jordan, the French Embassy to the Holy See, the United States Embassy to the Holy See, the Embassy of Romania, the Embassy of Qatar, the Embassy of Tunisia, the Embassy of Turkey, the Vatican, and the Islamic Cultural Centre in Rome.
HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal focused his content-rich speech "NATO in the WANA Region: Supranational Security and The Energy Ellipse" on International Relations, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation as well as on Human Security and the importance of establishing human dignity for all.
In the course of his speech HRH expressed how security and cooperation in the Middle East are dependent on supranational energy security, peace between Israel and Palestine, and establishing human security. Another key topic was the role and history of NATO's relations with the countries of the region and NATO's contribution to peace and regional security.
His Royal Highness outlined his perception of the main existential threats to the region; namely water shortage, energy security, forced migration, and the extent to which these concerns and others are dependent upon lasting peace between Israel and Palestine.
Moreover, he stressed the importance of an entrenched security-sector reform, particularly in regard to critical infrastructure and energy, to improve the carrying-capacity of states and prevent the incubation of unrest.
His remarks were followed by a Q&A period in which many of the Course Members showed the interest in covered topics, while receiving frank and honest answers to their questions.
HRH Prince El Hassan also met separately with the members of the NATO Regional Cooperation Course (NRCC) to discuss regional issues, pertaining to both NATO and the Middle East.
This was the second visit of HRH Prince Hassan to the NATO Defense College (NDC) and it reflects the excellent level of cooperation between the NDC and Jordan in the field of training and education, and particularly through the NDC’s new Middle East Faculty.
To download the full speech (pdf) click here
