Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva of Cabo Verde to NATO Headquarters on Thursday (26 October 2023).
Noting that NATO and Cabo Verde "share the same values of freedom, democracy, and human rights," Mr Stoltenberg said that NATO is stepping up cooperation with partners "to defend our values and the rules-based international order". He underlined that NATO already has partners in North Africa and is strengthening cooperation with the African Union to address common challenges, including terrorism, climate change, and small arms proliferation.
The Secretary General welcomed Cabo Verde's clear stance on Ukraine, including through votes at the UN General Assembly. He said that Russia's war of aggression on Ukraine, instability in the Middle East and the ongoing threat of terrorism "remind us that our security is not regional, it is global" and that "what happens in Europe matters for Africa, and what happens in Africa, matters for Europe".
In 2006 Cabo Verde hosted the NATO exercise Steadfast Jaguar in Flamingo Bay on the island of Sao Vicente. This major exercise involving more than 7,000 troops tested the ability of NATO's rapid response force to carry out missions anywhere at any time.
