Chairman of the NATO Military Committee speaks at the Global Security Forum in Slovakia
Attending the GLOBSEC Conference (15 - 16 April 2016) for the first time as Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, General Petr Pavel took this opportunity to provide a military perspective on the upcoming Warsaw Summit in July 2016.
GLOBSEC, held in Bratislava, Slovakia, is a premier venue for security leaders and stakeholders to discuss foreign and security policy, not only in Central and Eastern Europe but globally. This year’s edition allowed participants to take part in a variety of expert discussions covering topical issues, such as the upcoming “NATO Summit”, the “Future of the European project”, the “Western Role in the Middle East Turmoil”, the “Russian Challenge” and “What to expect from the U.S. Foreign Policy”.
General Pavel was able to share his unique perspective with the GLOBSEC participants from his position of the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee during the panel discussion titled “The Future of NATO: Will Warsaw Deliver”. After an introduction by H.E. Mr. Martin Stropnicky, Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic, General Pavel provided an opening statement highlighting the recent changes to the security environment and the steps NATO has taken to adapt to these new challenges with a 360 degree approach, focusing in every direction.
The Chairman went on to state that NATO’s role in the current security context cannot be limited to immediate actions such as Defence and Deterrence but needs to also include dialogue. “Acknowledging that a threat is defined through both one’s capability and intent, dialogue is a necessary component of any deterrence posture. Dialogue helps to understand mutual intent and therefore to avoid strategic miscalculations”.
When discussing the expectations for the Warsaw Summit, General Pavel highlighted that “in Warsaw, NATO will demonstrate its collective resolve and capability to deter and defend any threat, will demonstrate its resiliency, its willingness to promote dialogue and most of all NATO will prove that it is prepared for the Future”.
The other guest speakers on the panel included: H. E. Mr. Witold Waszczykowski, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, H. E. Mr. Lazar Comanescu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania, and James Townsend, Deputy Assistant Secretary General of Defence for European and NATO Policy, U. S. Department of Defense.