Original Coverage & Source Attribution: ua.news
President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Marcos Perestrello, during a visit to Abu Dhabi, UAE, called for deepening the partnership between the Alliance and Middle Eastern states. He said that the security of Europe and the Persian Gulf region is closely interconnected, and that the sides can exchange experience gained in the wars in Ukraine and Iran.
According to The National, Perestrello stressed that in the modern world no country can act alone, and therefore cooperation with partners should be strengthened. He also noted that upheavals in the Middle East significantly affect Europe, just as European crises affect the states of the region.
Lessons in countering drones
Perestrello called the UAE an example of response and resilience, mentioning the country’s defense against Iranian attacks. The publication reports that during the war, Tehran responded to US and Israeli strikes by attacking neighboring Gulf states with ballistic missiles and drones. The UAE faced the largest number of attacks: more than 550 ballistic missiles and 2,265 drones were launched at the country, most of which were intercepted or destroyed before reaching their targets.
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The assembly head said that Ukraine and the Gulf countries can learn from one another’s experience in countering new means of warfare. The aggressor state Russia extensively uses Iranian-designed Shahed drones in its war against Ukraine, and Iran also used them against Gulf states. In March, Ukrainian specialists arrived in the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia to provide advice on countering drone attacks, while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed supplying the region with low-cost interceptor drones.
Istanbul Cooperation Initiative
Perestrello named the development of NATO’s Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, launched in 2004, as one of the ways to strengthen ties. It is a mechanism for interaction between the Alliance and the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain. According to him, the initiative needs to be developed, implemented, and strengthened.
Representatives of NATO and Gulf partner states met on the sidelines of the Alliance’s summit in Ankara in July 2026. During these talks, major projects in maritime security and countering drones were launched. Perestrello also said that all NATO countries met the target of spending 2% of GDP on defense in 2025 and are moving toward a new benchmark of 5% of GDP for defense needs by 2035.
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