Opening remarks
by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Defence Ministers session
(As delivered)
Okay, I think we are ready to start. So good morning to all of you and welcome to this second day of the NATO Defence Ministerial meeting. We will discuss how we can further strengthen our defences as we face the gravest threat to Euro-Atlantic security in decades.
Right now, we have over 40,000 troops under direct NATO command, mostly in the eastern part of the Alliance, and many more on high alert, backed by significant air and naval assets. And we have doubled the number of multinational battlegroups, from the Baltic to the Black Sea. But we need to do even more to keep our people safe, now and in the years to come.
So today, we will prepare the ground for the Madrid Summit, where we will make important decisions to keep our Alliance strong.
This concludes the public part of this meeting and I thank the media for joining us at the top of the meeting. Thank you so much and we continue in just a moment.