NATO to be full member of global coalition against IS: NATO chief

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg addresses a press conference after the one-day NATO Summit, in Brussels, Belgium, May 25, 2017. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would be a full member of the Global Coalition against the Islamic State (IS), Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday. (Xinhua/NATO)

BRUSSELS, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would be a full member of the Global Coalition against the Islamic State (IS), NATO chief said Thursday.

"We agreed that NATO will become a full member of the Global Coalition, in which all 28 allies already take part," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a press conference after Thursday's NATO summit.

"Being in the coalition does not mean that NATO will engage in combat," he told reporters, adding that the decision taken by leaders of NATO's 28 allied nations aimed to send a strong signal to fight global terrorism.

NATO will also take part in political deliberations, including on the coordination of training and capacity building, he added.

NATO leaders from allied countries gathered here for their first meeting at NATO's new headquarters in Brussels, with military spending, counterterrorism on the agenda.