Doorstep

Good morning. It's good to be in Vilnius and to have this opportunity. As you all know, the NATO Summit is coming up in about - a little bit, a little over three weeks, very much focusing on defence spending and defence production.

We know that the Russians are really reconstituting themselves at a rapid pace. We know there is a Chinese build up. We know that China, Russia and North Korea, Iran are working together, and Russia being a long-term threat to NATO, it’s really crucial that in The Hague, when it comes to spending, when it comes to industrial production, we take the necessary decisions.

And of course, we will discuss Ukraine in The Hague, and also today, making sure that Ukraine has what it needs to stay in the fight, to be able to bring this terrible Russian war of aggression against Ukraine to an end which has to be lasting, which has to be durable. So, all of this will be on the agenda today, and very much look forward, under the leadership of the Lithuanian president to have this meeting today. So, thank you very much.

Reporter – [Question inaudible]

NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte - Well, obviously this is something we are discussing now amongst Allies so I'm not mentioning numbers now, but I can assure you, this old 2% we agreed in 2014 is not nearly enough to reach all the capability targets we need to reach to fill all the gaps we have in our defence system. We can defend ourselves now against Russia, but we can't in three to five to seven years. We have seen yesterday the comments by the chief of defence of Germany, and clearly, we have to stand ready so it will be considerably more than the 2% we were used to. And we also have to acknowledge that next to the hard defence spending, there is the issue of all the defence-related spending, including military mobility, including are our societies ready? Including building up the defence industrial base. So, all of this will be addressed.

Reporter – Mr Secretary, can you comment on the presidential elections in Poland?

NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte - Yes, of course, I followed the presidential elections. It seems there is now a result, an official result, if I'm not mistaken. And of course, I want to congratulate the winner, and I look very much forward to working together on all these issues and making sure that with Poland, NATO becomes even stronger than it is today.

Reporter – Should Ukraine become part of NATO by 2030?

NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte - Well, you know that when it comes to Ukraine in Washington, there was a clear commitment by all 32 Allies that there is an irreversible path for Ukraine to come into NATO. Not with an end date, not understanding this as part of a peace settlement, but clearly as a longer-term commitment by all 32 Allies. And we are building that bridge as we speak with the command in Wiesbaden, with - in Poland - JATEC, which is capturing all the lessons and, of course, all the other cooperation ongoing between NATO countries and Ukraine. Thank you so much.