The Nato alliance is open to more engagement should India seek it, but the organisation is not seeking new members in the region, the US envoy to Nato said.
\nAmerica\u2019s Nato Ambassador Julianne Smith also spoke of China\u2019s increasing assertiveness in the region and how it has impacted the alliance\u2019s approach to the Asia-Pacific region.
\n\u201cNato has really shifted in a pretty noticeable way in terms of how it conducts outreach and engages with its partners in the Indo-Pacific,\u201d she said at a virtual news briefing on Friday evening.
\nIn the past, the alliance didn\u2019t have a \u201cparticularly rich agenda\u201d with the countries in this region, but in recent years, it has started reaching out to them.
\nResponding to a question about a new role for India in Nato, Ambassador Smith said: \u201cThe Nato alliance is open to more engagement should India seek that\u201d, but added that: \u201cmembership is not something that we have really considered with anyone in the Indo-Pacific or Asia-Pacific\u201d.
\nThe ambassador said that various countries come to the door seeking different levels of political engagement and some are more interested in working on inter-operability.
\nThe alliance, Ms Smith said, \u201cremains the Euro-Atlantic military alliance [and] there are no plans by the alliance to expand this to a broader global military alliance.\u201d
\nSpeaking on the meeting of Nato Ministers of Foreign Affairs on April 4-5 in Brussels, the ambassador said: \u201cAt this stage, we would not want to invite them (India) to Nato ministerial until we know more about their interest in engaging the alliance more broadly\u201d.
\nHowever, four countries \u2014 Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan \u2014 that have already established formal partnerships with the alliance have been invited.
\n\u201cThese are four countries that joined us at the summit last year in Madrid,\u201d Ambassador Smith said.
\n\u201cIn terms of the future with India, I think Nato\u2019s door is open in terms of engagement should India be interested. But we would not want to at this stage invite them to Nato ministerial until we knew more about their interest in engaging the alliance more broadly,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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