Opening remarks

by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the start of the Trident Juncture 2015 Distinguished Visitor's Day in Zaragoza, Spain

  • 04 Nov. 2015 -
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  • Mis à jour le: 05 Nov. 2015 11:13

Minister Pedro Morenés,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is really a great pleasure and a great honour to be here in Zaragoza today, and to see our troops exercise in Trident Juncture. And as you all know the Trident Juncture is the largest exercise NATO has conducted for more than a decade. And we are going to see many troops exercising in many different fields and meeting many different challenges. With more than thirty six thousand troops, over one hundred and forty aircraft and more than sixty ships from over thirty different nations. And this is really a tremendous display of our capabilities, and our ability to work together.

And therefore I would like to thank you Minister and Spain for hosting this exercise, along with Italy and with Portugal.

I would also like to thank our Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, General Mercier;

General Domrose of Joint Force Command Brunssum, and your teams for the excellent work that you have been doing for a long time, planning this exercise and now executing the exercise. We are impressed and we are very honoured to visit you today.

During the last couple of years, Europe’s security and Europe’s security environment has changed significantly. Exercises like this show that NATO stands strong.

Ready to protect our values, our people and our territories. For our security is the basis of everything we hold dear: our democracy, our prosperity and our freedom.

This exercise puts NATO and our partners to the test.

So I welcome our partners: Austria, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Georgia, Sweden and Ukraine. And moreover I am grateful that the European Union has played a role. Together with other organisations and NGOs, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross.

I am also glad to welcome observers from around the world. From Morocco, Brazil, Colombia, Russia, the Republic of Korea, to Japan and many more. As well as OSCE and the African Union.  

So ladies and gentlemen,

The scenario that our troops face here is not real. But the benefits, the experience and the lessons they will learn are very real. That is why Trident Juncture is so important. And that is why we can all be confident in the continued strength and resilience of the NATO Alliance. And that’s also why I’m looking forward to watch and to see the exercise today, that will be a great and important experience for all of us.

Thank you.