Israeli Foreign Minister Meets With NATO Secretary General

TEL AVIV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2021) Israeli Foreign Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday to discuss NATO-Israeli relations, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.

"FM [Foreign Minister] Lapid noted that Israel & NATO share similar values and an understanding of the challenges and threats in the region ... FM Lapid expressed Israel's interest in further deepening cooperation & its willingness to work together with NATO to cope with the various challenges it faces, through intelligence, cyber, counterterrorism, climate change, maritime security, civil emergency & missile defence," the Israeli Foreign Ministry wrote on Twitter.

Lapid also invited Stoltenberg to visit Israel.

The NATO chief called Israel one of NATO's most active partners and hailed the continuity of staff-to-staff and expert-level exchanges despite the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, the alliance said.

The NATO official also reiterated calls on Iran, with which Israel has had strained relations, to return to full compliance with the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty, the International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards and the UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

The meeting at the military alliance's headquarters in Brussels came ahead of a series of bilateral talks between Lapid and his European counterparts, aimed to reboot relations under the new cabinet in Israel.

Israel has been a NATO partner in the region for 20 years as well as a member of NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue, a forum of cooperation with non-NATO countries.

Last month, a new cabinet was formed in Israel, with Naftali Bennett taking up the prime minister post and Lapid becoming the foreign affairs minister and his designated successor. The new Israeli government is seeking to restart its relations with NATO and European partners.