Officials said the Hashemite kingdom plans to examine a range of defense and
military programs with NATO. They said Jordan intends to become one of the
most active partners of NATO in the Middle East.
In March 2010, Rasmussen visited Jordan for the first time as part of a
Middle East tour to expand relations with NATO. Jordan has been one of seven
members of the Mediterranean Dialogue, established in 1994.
Jordan has been deemed a major Middle East contributor to NATO's
stabilization mission in Afghanistan. The kingdom has maintained a field
hospital and was helping train Afghan security forces and intelligence
services.
"Your country is therefore in Afghanistan to prevent terrorism spreading
and coming to Jordan," Rasmussen told the Jordan Times on March 9. "So it is
there also to protect the Jordanian people."
In 2009, Jordan agreed to work with NATO to expand bilateral relations
under the Individual Cooperation Program. ICP was drafted by NATO to allow
each country to choose its area of expertise.
Officials said Jordan has offered to host a NATO regional security
cooperation center. They said the center would focus on training and
educating officers from Gulf and Middle East militaries in such areas as
peacekeeping and counter-insurgency in the Middle East.
