Journalism of Courage
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that America will designate Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally as the Trump administration aims to elevate the military relationship between US and Saudi Arabia. The announcement of the decision by the Republican president came as he hosted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for a black-tie dinner at the White House.
The decision to designate Saudi Arabia as a non-NATO ally remains largely symbolic but it certainly provides foreign partners with some benefits in key sectors of defence and security cooperation, AP reported. Trump had earlier said that Saudi Arabia would purchase fifth-generation aircraft, F-35 stealth fighter jets under a US security package.
During the dinner at the White House, Trump said, “I’m pleased to announce that we’re taking our military cooperation to even greater heights by formally designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally, which is something that is very important to them.”
A few other countries with the non-NATO designation include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Columbia, Japan and New Zealand, among others. Though major non-NATO allies are not entitled to some specific guarantees present under the NATO rules, like Article 5 only applies to permanent members of NATO but the non-NATO ally designation changes the way US military interacts with the specific country, the US State Department said.
(with inputs from AP)
