NATO DSG and CMC attend Halifax International Security Forum
NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller and Chairman of the Military Committee Gen. Petr Pavel attended the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada on Friday and Saturday (18-19 November 2016).
On Saturday, Deputy Secretary General Gottemoeller participated in a panel discussion on the enduring importance of NATO, entitled "NATO: Necessary". Her co-panellists were Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, and US Senator Jeanne Shaheen. In her remarks, Ms Gottemoeller stressed that NATO has been a foundational bond between Europe and North America for almost seven decades. Looking forward, "NATO has some heavy lifting to do on complex issues like command and control," she said, "but I'm optimistic."
On Friday night, General Pavel participated in a panel on Russia with Defence Minister Hannes Hanso of Estonia and Bohdan Yaramenko, Chairman of Maidan of Foreign Affairs, a Ukrainian NGO. Commenting on the Forum, General Pavel said: "the discussions and views on the 'new democracy' where social media, polarization and referenda are common sense, were very interesting. How we can cope with these new phenomena in this challenging time frame. Where are we now and where do we want to go to."
The Halifax International Security Forum, of which NATO is a partner, is a leading security conference which has taken place annually in Halifax, Nova Scotia since 2009.