A new NATO southern defence
hub to be approved by alliance ministers Wednesday is
"particularly important," Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti said
upon her arrival at NATO HQ.
"Italy asked for it, we fought at all levels," said Pinotti,
underscoring that "I personally fought and I requested this
thing at every opportunity."
She said Italy's permanent representative at NATO, Ambassador
Claudio Bisogniero, and defence chief of staff Claudio Graziano
"worked on it too".
"We believe it is a first important result. I express
satisfaction on this. Obviously there will be work to do to make
sure this decision is properly implemented".
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday he
personally had proposed creating a southern defensive hub at
NATO's allied interforce command centre in Naples.
The new hub would be tasked with "increasing the capacity to
identify threats and improve situational awareness," he said.
It would be a centre of coordination for anti-terrorism,
intelligence and defence capacity building to stabilise North
Africa and the Middle East as well as warding off threats from
the south, he said.
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