ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani on Monday gave an address at the North Atlantic Council, the principal political decision body for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), while visiting the organization's headquarters in the Belgian capital of Brussels.

Sudani met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte upon his arrival, with a statement from the Iraqi premier's office affirming that the pair discussed "bilateral relations between Iraq and the NATO Mission in Iraq."

The prime minister also told Rutte, himself a former prime minister of the Netherlands, that "Iraq has successfully overcome significant challenges and today stands as a cornerstone of regional security and stability."

During his address to the Council, Sudani asserted that Iraq "is no longer a source of security concern but rather a strategic partner that can be relied upon," with the relationship between the NATO mission in the country highlighting Baghdad's "aspiration to be a regional partner of NATO," a separate statement from the premier's media office said. 

The NATO Mission in Iraq was established in 2018 and endeavors to assist Iraq "in building more sustainable, transparent, inclusive, and effective armed forces and security institutions, so that Iraqis themselves are better able to stabilize their country, fight terrorism, and prevent the return of ISIS/Daesh [the Islamic State]," the Mission's website says. 

Sudani emphasized his administration's desire to bolster domestic defense capabilities, saying that Iraq seeks to strengthen relations with NATO countries, develop its air defense capabilities, and enhance cooperation regarding "terrorism, border security, organized crime, cyber threats, and other sources of regional instability."

"Iraq looks forward to NATO support in developing deterrence capabilities, while ensuring Iraq’s distancing from regional conflicts," the statement added.

The premier also discussed regional turmoil in the Middle East, expressing his hopes for a "peaceful resolution" of the Iranian nuclear issue "within the framework of international law, UN Security Council resolutions, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty," as well as expressing support for Syria's stability and the ensuring of "inclusivity and pluralism" for Damascus' tapestry of ethnic, linguistic, and religious minorities. 

Sudani also voiced his concern at the "genocide in Gaza" and the repeated violations of UN Security Council resolutions by Israeli forces, calling for an immediate halt to hostilities.

Iraq and NATO have developed a strong relationship in the past two decades following the fall of the former Baath regime in 2003, with many NATO member states deploying military forces to Iraq in support of the US-led coalition. 

Between 2004 and 2011, around 15,000 Iraqi military and police officers were trained under the auspices of the NATO Training Mission in Iraq (NTM-I), with the alliance in 2016 agreeing to "provide direct support to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS/Daesh with NATO AWACS surveillance aircraft," before becoming a full member of the coalition the year after, according to NATO.

In August 2024, Iraq and NATO launched a "high-level political dialogue" to expand on pre-existing cooperation and further enhance cooperation.