Opening remarks

by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the start of the meeting of the North Atlantic Council on projecting stability and fighting terrorism at the level of NATO Foreign Ministers

  • 06 Dec. 2017 -
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  • Last updated: 06 Dec. 2017 14:03

(As delivered)

Dear friends, I think we are ready to start. Welcome to this session.

And today we will discuss NATO’s role in projecting stability and the fight against terrorism.

What happens beyond our borders has an impact on us at home.

That is why we support our partners to build their capacities in the east and in the south.

At the same time, we have increased our contributions in the fight against terrorism.

We remain committed to our training mission in Afghanistan. 

And we are adding three thousand more troops.

In Iraq, we are ramping up our efforts to provide training and assistance.

In military medicine, countering IEDs, and equipment maintenance.

NATO is a full member of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, and is contributing with AWACS surveillance flights.

And we are discussing how we can build on our existing activities in Iraq and Jordan to provide further support to the Coalition.  

Today, we will also discuss how we can increase the counter-terrorism capabilities of our partners to the South.

And how we can help them build resilience to confront terrorist threats.

This ends the public part of this meeting. I thank the media for joining us also at the beginning of this meeting. Thank you so much.