Doorstep statement
by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg ahead of the Brussels Summit
(As delivered)
So good morning. It’s good to see you all. And today I really look forward to welcoming all the NATO Leaders to our summit. We meet at a pivotal moment for our Alliance. And today we will open a new chapter in our transatlantic relations.
The Leaders will discuss a wide range of issues, among them Russia.
And our relationship with Russia is at its lowest point since the end of the Cold War. This is due to Russia’s aggressive actions.
I am confident that the NAO Leaders will confirm our dual track approach to Russia: strong defence combined with dialogue.
And I’m sure that the NATO Leaders will welcome the opportunity to consult with President Biden ahead of his meeting with President Putin.
We will also address China. There are of course opportunities and we need to engage with China on issues like climate change, arms control.
But China’s military build-up, growing influence and coercive behaviour also poses some challenges to our security.
And we need to address them together as an Alliance.
On this background, NATO Leaders will today agree an ambitious forward-looking agenda, the NATO2030 agenda.
This is about how to reinforce our collective defence, how to strengthen our resilience, and sharpen our technological edge. And for the first time in NATO’s history, also make climate and security an important task for our Alliance.
To do all of this, we need to resource our higher level of ambition.
And therefore we need to invest more. I welcome that we are on a good track. We now have seven consecutive years of increased defence spending across European Allies and Canada. And these Allies have added in total 260 billion extra US dollars for defence.
I am also confident that NATO Leaders will agree to invest more together, to meet our higher level of ambition. This is a force-multiplier and it demonstrates the unity of our Alliance.
So all together I’m absolutely certain that the decisions we will make today, they will send a strong message of unity, of resolve and that we are making NATO stronger in an age of global competition.
And then I’m ready for your questions.
Question [inaudible]:
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg:
So we are ending our military mission in Afghanistan, but we will continue to support the Afghans, and provide support to the Afghan security forces. We will do that partly through our civilian presence, where we will provide support, advice, to the Afghan security institutions. We will continue to provide funding for Afghan security forces, that is a commitment that all Allies have made. And then we're also now working on how we can provide out-of-country training for the Afghan security forces. And we're also working on how can we maintain [and] support critical infrastructure, including the airport. NATO is planning to provide support and also some NATO Allies are now in direct dialogue, including the United States and Turkey and others, on how to make sure that we can maintain an international airport in Kabul. This is of course important for NATO Allies, but it's also important for the whole international community for diplomatic presence, and also for continued development aid. So, in essence, we have been there for almost 20 years. The intention was never to be there forever. We are clear-eyed about the risks that the decision to end our military presence entails, but at the same time, we will continue to support the Afghans.
Question [inaudible]:
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg:
So we see a pattern of Russian behavior, of aggressive actions against their neighbours Ukraine, Georgia. But also cyberattacks, hybrid attacks, poisoning against, including against Allies. And, of course, this is something that has led to the deterioration of the relationship between NATO and Russia, and our relationship is now at the lowest point since the end of the Cold War. But NATO is adapting, NATO is responding, we have already implemented the biggest reinforcement of collective defence, with high readiness, with battlegroups in the eastern part of the Alliance, and increased defence spending every year since 2014.
And we will continue to reinforce our collective defence and we will do that through the decisions we make today as part of the NATO 2030 agenda. But we will also continue to strive for dialogue with Russia. And dialogue is not a sign of weakness, dialogue is actually a sign of strength. As long as we are united, as long as we are strong, then we can talk to Russia. And therefore I welcome the fact that President Biden will meet President Putin. Arms control is an important topic. NATO welcomes the extension of the New START Agreement, and we need to work for further progress in the arms control efforts. Let me just end by saying that we are united. And that's the most important message we are sending to Russia that they are not able to divide us. We are united in our message. Deterrence and defence combined with dialogue.
Question [inaudible]:
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg:
The message is that, of course, there are opportunities in our relationship with China. And for instance on arms control and climate change, we need to talk to China. At the same time, what we have seen over now several years is significant military buildup by China, investing heavily in new military capabilities, including nuclear capabilities, and also more advanced weapon systems. We see coercive behaviour, for instance, in the South China Sea. And we also know that China does not share our values, we see how they crackdown on democratic voters in Hong Kong. And also, persecute minorities in their own country, and use modern technology, social media, and facial recognition to monitor and surveillance their own population in a way we’ve never seen before. All of this matters for our security. And no country, and no continent, can manage to deal with this alone, so therefore we need to respond together as an Alliance, as NATO. And that's exactly what we do.
I would also like to highlight that this is very, very much, about what we do at home, because China is coming closer to us - -
[airplane noise overhead]
I’ll just wait a moment - -
China is coming closer to us. We see them in cyberspace. We see China in Africa, in the Arctic, but we also see China investing heavily in our own critical infrastructure and trying to control it. We have seen the discussions about 5G, Huawei. And that's the reason why the NATO 2030 agenda is so important, because that agenda is about strengthening our resilience, it's about investing more in technology, and it is also about making sure that we step up when it comes to cyber defences. So I expect Allies to agree the NATO 2030 agenda. I also expect Allies to agree language in the communiqué. And you have to remember that 18 months ago, that was the first time NATO had language on China at all.
In our current strategic concept, China's not mentioned with a word. At the Summit in London, in December 2019, we had one sentence addressing China. This time, it will be a clear position, a united position by Allies on China, showing that we have seen a convergence of views among Allies over the last months.
Question [inaudible]:
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg:
We're not entering a new Cold War and China is not our adversary, not our enemy, but we need to address together as an Alliance, the challenges that the rise of China poses to our security. NATO is the strongest, the most successful Alliance in history. We are proving again and again that we're able to change when the world is changing. Over the last years we have implemented the biggest adaptation of NATO since the end of the Cold War, and we will continue to adapt, with the decisions we are making today. And I really welcome also this opportunity to open a new chapter in the transatlantic relationship with the United States, Canada, North America and Europe working together in NATO.
Question [inaudible]:
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg:
I welcome the fact that we have a President of the United States who is strongly committed to NATO, to North America and Europe, working together in NATO, and I met President Biden in the White House this week, and he expressed [an] extremely high level of confidence in our transatlantic bond, and I look forward also to welcoming him now to the Summit. And of course, that is a good message to all our Allies. Let me also add that I think that what we have seen over the last four years, is the importance of strong multilateral institutions like NATO, and that an institution, an organisation like NATO, goes beyond individual leaders. Because there's no reason to hide that we had some challenging discussions over the last four years. At the same time, NATO proved that we have continued to work, that we continued to deliver on our core task, deterrence and defence, And we will have always different political leaders. But with strong institutions, a strong NATO, we can weather different political winds, and we have a cooperation, an Alliance partnership, that goes beyond individual leaders, and for me that's just an extra argument for making sure that we maintain the strong bond in NATO between North America and Europe. And then, on Chancellor Merkel, I want to say that I'm looking forward to welcoming her to the meeting. I have had the privilege of working with her for many, many years, since we actually both became Prime Minister, Chancellor and Prime Minister, back in 2005. And she is a strong supporter of our transatlantic bond, and a leader that has really helped to strengthen the Alliance and the cooperation between North America and Europe.
Question [inaudible]:
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg:
The Allies will today agree a programme and an agenda for NATO with higher ambitions. We are going to do more on how to strengthen our collective defence, resilience, technology, and working more with partners, including with the European Union. And to do so we need to make sure that we have resources that are matching this high level of ambition. That is partly to, of course, to continue to invest more in our national defence budgets, but I'm confident that when leaders meet they will also agree that we need to fully resource our high level of ambition, also by spending more, investing more together in NATO. And this is about all the three budgets of NATO: the military budget, the civilian budget and investments budget. And these investments will enable us to increase readiness, have more exercises, invest more in pre-positioned equipment, work more closely with partners, train, capacity building, and also command and control, and many other areas which are important for our Alliance, for all of us. Spending together is a force multiplier, spending together is an efficient way of working together. And again, I'm confident that when we meet we will agree that we need additional funding. We need to meet this high level of ambition, and there is a need to increase NATO’s common funded budget.
Thank you.