Keynote speech

Thank you Jasmina. I'm really delighted to be with you again at the 2B Secure Forum, such a vital forum for discussing the security of the Western Balkans and beyond. I only wish that I could be with you in person.

Since I was last with you, just a year ago, our security environment has changed radically. Russia has instigated a devastating war on Ukraine – a free and independent nation. And the cost has been, and continues to be, terrible. Tens of thousands of dead – on both sides – homes, hospitals, schools destroyed, whole cities razed to the ground. Acts of war committed in the name of President Putin and his desire to wipe Ukraine from the map.

Now we have seen Russia annexing the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of Ukraine, an area roughly the size of Portugal. It has no legitimacy and represents another blatant violation of the UN Charter. NATO Allies will never recognise this illegal and illegitimate land grab. These lands are Ukraine.

This, along with military mobilisation and its utterly reckless nuclear rhetoric, this represents a significant escalation by Russia in a war that is not going as planned. Far from walking into Ukraine unopposed, or welcomed with open arms, as their soldiers were led to believe, the Russian military has faced severe resistance from the Ukrainian military and its highly motivated soldiers and people.

The bravery of Ukrainian soldiers, combined to NATO and the international community's unprecedented political, economic and military support, is making a huge impact on the ground. Russia's military has been found wanting on almost every front, from command and control to logistics and equipment.

And we need to stay vigilant here in the Western Balkans. This region has come a long way since the conflicts of the 1990s. Sadly, we've seen foreign actors working to undermine this progress. Instead of playing a constructive role in the Western Balkans, Russia has chosen to destabilise the region with hacking, disinformation, intimidation, and a plethora of other activities. Just this past summer, Montenegro attributed a cyberattack on government service to a Russian group.

Last year, Russia and China worked together at the UN to undermine the role of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina. And on 3 November, we'll see whether Russia will act responsibly, helping to renew the EU’s ALTHEA Mission mandate.

In contrast, for more than twenty years, NATO has been a strong and stabilising presence in Kosovo. Today, we have close to 4000 troops there, making it our biggest military presence outside of NATO territory. This demonstrates our strong and unwavering commitment to peace and stability in Kosovo and the entire region.

KFOR stands ready to intervene, in line with the UN Security Council Resolution 1244, should stability there be jeopardised. In the meantime, KFOR remains vigilant and our KFOR Commander remains in contact with the Kosovo security organisations and the Serbian Chief of Defence.

We'll take whatever steps are necessary to ensure a safe and secure environment, and freedom of movement, for all the people of Kosovo. The only way towards sustainable peace is for Belgrade and Pristina to resolve their issues through dialogue and to reach a solution that respects the rights of all communities.

The recent deal on freedom of movement between Belgrade and Pristina is very welcome. This was made possible through the EU-facilitated dialogue, which NATO strongly supports. And we just discussed this, and the whole region, at NATO with our good friend, Miroslav Lajčák, just the other day.

And we are looking forward and we are encouraging dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, to resolve the outstanding issues through political dialogue. And we are hopeful that the meetings that will take place in Prague, the Berlin Process, the Quint, bilateral and multilateral efforts will lead to the same direction: stability, peace and full integration into the Euro-Atlantic structures, of the Western Balkans.

This is the message that Secretary General Stoltenberg gave to both President Vučić and Mr Kurti when they visited NATO HQ in August, and again with Kosovar politicians when he was at the UN General Assembly earlier [in September]. I delivered, and the North Atlantic Council, the same message when we visited KFOR just a few months back.

Five years ago, Montenegro joined our NATO Alliance and became part of a family of nations dedicated to maintaining peace and security in the Euro-Atlantic area. In these five years, Montenegro has made a genuine contribution to our security. Today, you contribute to NATO's KFOR Mission in Kosovo and to the Canadian-led enhanced Forward Presence battlegroup in Latvia. And you're also committed to spending 2% of GDP on defence by 2024. Montenegro is there for NATO and NATO is here for Montenegro, as well as for the wider Western Balkans.

Soon our NATO family will be 32 nations strong, when Finland and Sweden join.  One billion people across two continents, the most successful alliance in history. We have been achieving our goals in almost three quarters of a century, and we'll continue to do that.

Russia may be the most significant threat to Allies’ security but this is not the only challenge. The world is in huge transformation and this is something that leads me to terrorism as a major source of instability [and] conflict in Africa, the Middle East. China's coercive policies and ambitions, emerging technologies, and climate change, all challenge our security, our prosperity, our values. They all test our societal resilience.

Facing so many varied challenges means we must be strong, we [must] stay agile, stay united, and that's how we'll keep our people safe in this more dangerous world.  To guide us through this endeavour, we have a new Strategic Concept of NATO, adopted by our leaders at the NATO – immensely successful – Summit in Madrid last June. The last one, Strategic Concept, was published in 2010, described Russia as a partner and didn’t mention China at all, and only mentioned climate change in passing.

The new Strategic Concept expresses the far darker reality we face today. It reaffirms our values – freedom, democracy, rule of law and human rights. And it states that our main purpose and greatest responsibility as NATO is to enable our collective defence, to deter and defend against any threat from any direction.

And for that, we need highly capable forces at a high state of readiness. Many are already stationed in the east of our Alliance, with more on their way, as our battlegroups grow to become battalions. Far more troops will be at a high state of readiness in their home nations, ready to move at short notice, to respond to any contingency and protect every Ally.

We are working with industry to replenish our stocks of weapons and ammunition, both to continue to support Ukraine in the months ahead and also to ensure that our own defences are strong, because we now live in a different, more dangerous world, and we must act and adapt accordingly.

The European Union is an essential partner for the future peace and prosperity of Europe. When Finland and Sweden will join NATO, around 96% of the EU population will be under NATO's protection. NATO and the EU are working together on a growing range of issues, from stability here in the Western Balkans, to military mobility, and from maritime to cyber defence.

We are also working together with the EU on more issues that affect our security at large: challenges posed by China, climate change, and also emerging disruptive technologies. Neither NATO nor the EU have alone the tools to ensure our security and our prosperity. But working together, we are a powerful force for good in Europe, and also around the world.

NATO and NATO Allies are determined to continue our support for peace and stability in the Western Balkans, to continue our support for brave Ukraine, and to do everything necessary to protect every inch of Allied territory and a population that, through us, has peace, stability, and prosperity assured. One billion people under 32 flags, to become soon. And the newest Allies from the region I'm so... I'm also part of, as a Romanian, plays an integral part in our common success. Thank you and the best of luck.