Opening remarks
by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the Meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Defence Ministers’ session with EU partners
(As delivered)
Good morning. Welcome to all of you.
Welcome to our partners from Finland, Sweden and the European Union.
So a warm welcome to Antti, to Peter, and to you, Josep. Welcome.
We meet at a critical time for European security.
The Ukrainian crisis makes NATO’s cooperation with the EU and with our close partners Finland and Sweden more important than ever.
Russian actions are part of a larger pattern of growing strategic competition, increasing hybrid threats and pervasive instability. These can only be tackled successfully if we work together.
We will continue our close cooperation to defend our values and fundamental principles.
And with that, I thank the media for joining us at the top of the meeting.
And we will continue in just a moment.