Opening remarks
by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the North Atlantic Council meeting at the level of Defence Ministers
(As delivered)
So good morning. I think we are ready to start. If you could find your seats?
So good morning and welcome to all of you.
Today we will address NATO’s deterrence and defence posture. Ensuring it remains fit for the future.
To do so, we need to keep investing in defence. Allies have already delivered five consecutive years of real growth in defence budgets. This will be an additional 100 billion dollars of national defence spending by the end of next year. But we need to keep up our efforts.
We will also discuss the steps we are taking to improve the readiness of our forces.
Including the NATO Readiness Initiative.
We will also assess other ways we are enhancing our deterrence and defence.
Including by improving our cyber defences, and strengthening our maritime posture.
This concludes the public part of the meeting.
And I thank the media for being with us at the beginning. We will continue in just a moment.