Istanbul Cooperation Initiative

The Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) is a NATO initiative that was launched during the organisation's 2004 Istanbul summit.

During the summit, NATO leaders decided to elevate the Alliance's Mediterranean Dialogue to a genuine partnership and to launch the ICI with selected countries in the broader region of the Middle East.[1] The initiative is an offer to engage in practical security cooperation activities with states throughout the Greater Middle East.[2] This new initiative stands alongside NATO's Partnership for Peace Program and the Mediterranean Dialogue. NATO itself regards these security cooperation partnerships as a response to the new challenges of the 21st century and as a complement to the G8 and U.S.-EU decisions to support calls for reform from within the Broader Middle East region. The ICI offers practical cooperation with interested nations in the Greater Middle East in such areas as:

• Counter-WMD;
• Counterterrorism;
• Training and education;
• Participation in NATO exercises;
• Promoting military interoperability;
• Disaster preparedness and civil emergency planning;
• Tailored advice on defense reform and civil-military relations; and
• Cooperation on border security to help prevent illicit trafficking of drugs, weapons, and people.