ROME — Commander of Allied Joint Force Command Naples Admiral James Foggo shared a future vision of NATO’s southern borders with a group of military officers and and civilian executives at NATO Defence College in Rome today.
 
Speaking broadly about NATO’s priorities past and present, the Allied Joint Force Command Naples Commander focused on challenges to the south, including unemployment, crime, trafficking and terrorism. As a result, NATO mandated the creation of a "Hub for the South” in February 2017, to be based at JFC Naples. 

Declared at initial capability in September 2017, NATO’s Strategic Direction South Hub works to connect, consult and coordinate with partners to find solutions to the challenges. 

"The Hub was born of a recognition that NATO alone was not configured to meet the challenges of its southern neighborhood,” Foggo said. "It could only do so, and thereby begin to match the expectations of its citizens if it connected, consulted and coordinated with others, and built upon one of its greatest but perhaps least-known achievements of the post-Cold War: partnership.”
 
The Hub symbolizes NATO’s continuing innovation and adaptation in its efforts toward a safer world.
 
"Just as former Warsaw Pact states, now Allies, benefited from NATO guidance on their lengthy processes of defense modernization,” Foggo said. "So too are NATO’s partners in North Africa and the Middle East benefiting from practical assistance with the skills and capacities which will help them address the range of security challenges they face.”