NATO Allies reaffirm commitment to deterrence, resilience and fairer burden sharing at their virtual Defence Ministers’ Meeting
Today (22 October 2020), NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg delivered an online press conference at the end of the first day of a virtual meeting of Allied Defence Ministers on 22 and 23 October 2020.
The Secretary General highlighted that NATO is determined to keep its cutting edge in all domains - land, sea, air, cyber, and space. He announced the Ministers’ decision to establish a new NATO Space Centre at Allied Air Command in Ramstein, Germany.
He also emphasized the interconnection existing between strong militaries and resilient societies. To this end he noted that NATO is playing an important role, including by setting minimum resilience standards for Allies, and noted that Ministers agreed to strengthen Allied resilience pledge when NATO leaders meet next year.
Finally, the Secretary General set out that progress continued to be made towards fairer burden sharing across the Alliance. He highlighted that 2020 will be the sixth consecutive year of increased defence spending by European Allies and Canada, with an increase this year of 4.3 percent in real terms.
Read the transcript of the Secretary General's opening remarks here.