WASHINGTON, May 10: US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel would travel to the Middle East next week – his third in a year – for consultations with the regional leaders on a range of bilateral and regional issues.
“This trip will be the secretary’s third to the Middle East in just over a year, and it will advance America’s regional strategy in that region. Our effort to work in a coordinated manner with allies and partners across the region to address common security challenges,” Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters.
Hagel’s first stop will be in Saudi Arabia where he will participate in a US-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) defense ministerial, an initiative that he called for at the Manama Dialogue in December of last year.
“This meeting agenda will be the first US-GCC defense minister’s forum since 2008, and it provides an important and timely opportunity for the US to step up cooperation with Gulf nations as we confront common regional security challenges related to Iran, Syria, Egypt, and Iraq,” he said.
The GCC is a political and economic union of Arab states bordering the Persian Gulf, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
The ministerial is designed to strengthen multilateral security cooperation in the region focusing on enhanced GCC coordination on air and missile defense, maritime security, and cyber defense.
It is also an opportunity for the Secretary to underscore US security commitments in the Middle East and to reinforce the US’ unstinting policy of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and further destabilizing the region, Kirby said.
From Saudi Arabia, Hagel will travel to Jordan, where he will meet with the Jordanian chief of defense to discuss the US and Jordan’s cooperation on the conflict in Syria, he said, adding that the visit will highlight US commitment to the defense of Jordan, where more than 1,000 US personnel are on the ground working closely with Jordanian defense authorities.
The final stop on the trip will be to Israel, where Hagel will meet with the Israeli President, Prime Minister and the Defense Minister.
“This visit follows on National Security Adviser Rice and senior Defense Department officials’ participation in the US-Israeli consultative group earlier this week,” Kirby said.
In his meeting with his Israeli counterpart, the two leaders will discuss critical regional and bilateral security issues, including the US and Israel’s cooperation on rocket and missile defense.
“The Secretary is deeply committed to the US Israeli defense relationship, which is as strong as it’s ever been,” Kirby said. (PTI)
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