US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel met with Italian Minister of Defense Mario Mauro late Monday at the Pentagon where they discussed a range of issues including Afghanistan, Syria, and security in Mediterranean, as well as cooperative efforts. The Pentagon said in a statement that "Italy is a key North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ally and an important leader in addressing global challenges in Afghanistan, Lebanon, the Balkans and North Africa." "Hagel praised Italy's contributions to capacity building in emerging democracies in the Middle East and North Africa," the statement added. It indicated that Italy "recently began providing security training to Libyan general purpose forces, and will help stabilize Afghanistan post 2014, as a framework nation in Afghanistan's western region." It added that Hagel also lauded Italy's role in the international community's mission to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons stockpile, noting that Italy "has offered to provide a port to transload the materials from Danish and Norwegian vessels to the Cape Ray, a United States ship that has been specially configured to neutralize the chemical weapons materials at sea." "Secretary Hagel is thankful for the hospitality Italy provides to the approximately 33,000 US service members, civilians, and families who live and work there, and looks forward to seeing Minister Mauro at this year's NATO Summit," the statement noted.