In news– Recently, the United States has decided to designate Qatar as a major non-NATO ally.
About Major Non-NATO Allies (MNNA) status-
- It is a designation under U.S. law that provides foreign partners with certain benefits in the areas of defense trade and security cooperation.
- It is a powerful symbol of the close relationship the United States shares with those countries and demonstrates our deep respect for the friendship for the countries to which it is extended.
- Unlike a NATO ally, whose defence becomes the collective responsibility of the alliance, the designation does not entail a defence commitment — but it enables a country to access military and financial advantages.
- The MNNA status was first created in 1987. The initial MNNAs were Australia, Egypt, Israel, Japan, and South Korea.
- Brazil was the latest country to be granted this status in 2020.
- More than 18 nations, including Australia, Bahrain, Japan, Kuwait, and the Philippines, are currently designated as major non-NATO allies by the United States.
Benefits of MNNA status-
- It confers a variety of military and financial advantages that otherwise are not obtainable by non-NATO countries, depending on the version of the amendment that is eventually signed by the President.
- It permits firms of a country to bid on certain US government contracts for maintenance, repair or overhaul of Department of Defence (DOD) equipment outside the continental US.
- Makes a country eligible for certain joint counterterrorism research and development projects.
- Allows DOD to enter into cooperative R&D projects with the country to improve conventional defence capabilities on an equitable cost-sharing basis.
- Makes a nation eligible for priority delivery of excess defence articles if it is on the South or Southeastern flank of NATO.
- Makes a nation eligible to buy depleted uranium ammunition.
- Makes the country eligible to have U.S.-owned War Reserve Stockpiles on its territory outside of US military installations.
- Allows the country to use US-provided foreign military financing for commercial leasing of certain defence articles.
- Makes a country eligible for loans of materials, supplies and equipment for cooperative R&D projects and testing and evaluation.
- Makes a country eligible for expedited processing of export licenses of commercial satellites, their technologies, components, and systems.
About NATO-
- The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) is an intergovernmental military alliance of 30 North American and European states.
- The alliance came into existence following the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty.
- NATO’s Headquarters are located in Evere, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons, Belgium.
- The aim of the alliance is to constitute a system of collective defence whereby members agree to mutual defence in response to an external attack.
Further reading: https://journalsofindia.com/north-atlantic-treaty-organization-nato/
Source: Hindustan Times
