Speech

Mircea Geoană [NATO Deputy Secretary General]: 

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
I'm delighted to join you today to discuss the importance of 5G and emerging technologies.  

The Prague 5G Security Conference brings together partners from all corners of the globe. 
And from all sectors in the crucial triple helix, between the public and private sectors, and of course academia.  

Since it was established in 2019, this conference has helped to drive the global conversation on 5G security.  
From the Prague Proposals developed during the first conference, which set the blueprint for 5G security for many nations and international organisations, including the EU and the G7.
To last year's conference with the Prague 5G Repository of existing approaches, tools and frameworks.  

So, let me start by thanking the Czech government and the National Cyber and Information Security Agency in particular, for their leadership on this very topical issue.  

5G networks are the foundation of so many of the new technologies that are transforming our work and our security, today and in the future. 
From AI to autonomy, to big data, 5G enables the massive real time sharing of data that underpins machine learning and effective algorithms.  
At the same time, it can increase the risk of exploitation and our vulnerability to attack, as more and more things are connected through 5G, from the phones in your pocket, in the flight decks of a fighter jet.

The security and resilience of our telecommunication networks are paramount and therefore, to ensure the continuity of these essential services and the security of our one billion people living in the 30 NATO Allies, in terms of peace, crisis and conflict, it's vital for NATO.  
So, this is something that we have prioritised in NATO for many years now and where we have really shifted the dial as an Alliance, as 30 nations together.  

At our Summit in Warsaw in 2016, NATO Allies agreed to enhance our resilience of our societies, across seven baseline requirements, including civil communication networks.  
And in London in 2019, our leaders reiterated NATO's commitment to ensuring secure and resilient communication systems, including 5G.  
At our last Summit, this June, Allies agreed a strengthened resilience pledge. 

To enhance the resilience of our critical infrastructure, industries, supply chains and communication networks, like 5G.  

As part of their efforts, Allies are conducting, through risk assessment and thorough risk assessments, on an annual basis, to identify and mitigate cyber threats and the consequences of foreign ownership, control or direct investment.  
At least half of NATO's member countries have passed formal legislation covering 5G network security.  And NATO has launched an initiative to ensure the security of our own next generation telecommunication networks. And not only 5G, also for the future.  

At the same time, NATO is taking forward our work on new technologies, to foster and protect Ally developments in key technologies, from AI to autonomy, from biotech to big data, quantum computing to hypersonics and space.  
Last October, Allied Defence Ministers took concrete steps to establish a new billion-euro NATO Innovation Fund.
And offered to provide a network of technology test centres and accelerator sites for our new Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic - or DIANA for short.  

These two new transatlantic endeavours will help to build an innovation pipeline across the Atlantic.  
They will promote the all important interoperability that allows us to continue to work effectively together.  
And it will protect our brightest investors and innovations, from adversarial investment and actors.
By setting the market conditions to drive innovation, helping new entrepreneurs to protect their businesses from predatory investors and connecting them with sources of trusted capital. 

At the same meeting, our Defence Ministers also agreed NATO's first ever strategy on artificial intelligence, in a framework for the exploitation of data.  
These developments will make a true revolution in the way we defend ourselves.  
But they will also not change NATO's commitment to our values, international law and the power of ideas and ethical norms. 

So, we are determined to become the standard setter when it comes to the safe and responsible use of data and AI.
And to use our unique convening power to ensure the ethical use of new technologies, by upholding democratic norms, also in the digital space, and strengthening the rules based international order.  

Ladies and gentlemen, 
We all have a role and responsibility, as countries, as international organisations, as private citizens and companies, to build strong societies and resilient economies.  
And platforms like the Prague 5G Conference play an important part in this regard.  

So, thank you again to our esteemed NATO Ally - the Czech Republic - for leading the way on this very important issue. 
And I cannot wait to see the outcomes of this year's conference. 
I wish you the same very productive discussions for the next two days.
Thank you so very much.