Press briefing

OANA LUNGESCU (NATO Spokesperson): Hello, thank you very much for coming. It's very good to see you all. And I'm also very happy to welcome General Stéphane Abrial who's in Brussels to attend a seminar with NATO ambassadors and military representatives tomorrow to discuss the transformation agenda after the Lisbon Summit. He will give his briefing on the record. He will then take some questions. And afterwards, I will give you a short update of NATO's current political agenda. Mon général.

GÉNÉRAL STÉPHANE ABRIAL (Commandant du Commandement allié Transformation "ACT" de l'OTAN): Merci beaucoup, donc je ferais mes remarques preliminaires en français. Je ferai... Je ne touche plus à rien. Je disais que je ferais mes remarques preliminaires en français, mais qu'ensuite je serais prêt à répondre aux questions en français, en anglais, comme vous le voulez.

Au mois de mai 2010, quand j'avais rencontré déjà certains d'entre vous, j'avais dit que j'essaierais de revenir. Ça ne marche pas. Ça ne marchera pas. (BRUITS)

OANA LUNGESCU: Ça marche trop.

GÉNÉRAL STÉPHANE ABRIAL: Vous m'entendez avec celui-là? C'est mieux? Vous êtes après de m'entendre, oui, d'accord merci. Je disais qu'en mai 2010 quand j'étais déjà venue voir certains d'entre vous, je vous avais annoncé que je viendrais régulièrement.

Malheureusement, l'actualité a été tellement remplie que ça n'a pas été possible. Et je suis donc particulièrement heureux que nous puissions avoir cette rencontre. Je vous en remercie. Et je remercie aussi Mme Lungescu de l'avoir organisé.

Je suis ici, comme Oana l'a dit, pour le séminaire annuel, que nous appelons le "SACT Seminar" qui a lieu demain pour la première fois à Bruxelles. Ce séminaire, c'est l'occasion, en présence du secrétaire-général... Un problème? Non?

C'est l'occasion en présence du secrétaire-général de présenter aux représentants du conseil et du comité militaire quelques-uns de mes principaux chantiers en cours et surtout d'en discuter avec eux.

Et parmi les nombreux travaux qui m'occupent aujourd'hui dans l'après-sommet de Lisbonne, je voudrais rapidement revenir sur quelques-uns. Tout d'abord, les menaces émergentes.

Une série de défis sécurité émergeants ont été soulignés il y a quelques mois à Lisbonne. Je citerais, par exemple, le risque de prolifération nucléaire, menace d'attaques par missiles balistiques, la multiplication des actes terroristes, la piraterie maritime ou encore des attaques dans le domaine des réseaux informatiques.

Dans le domaine cybernétique, particulièrement, l'OTAN développe une politique à laquelle mon commandement Allié pour la transformation contribue. Dans ce contexte, ACT est par ailleurs en train de mener une étude sur les espaces stratégiques que certains appellent communs, c'est-à-dire la mer, l'air, l'espace et le cyberespace, domaine par où transitent tous les flux qui sont aujourd'hui indispensables aux sociétés (inaudible)... des flux de personnes, de biens, de services d'information. Des domaines aussi où peuvent se développer certains des risques et menaces que j'ai évoqués.

Dans le domaine du développement capacitaire, nous sommes aujourd'hui entrés dans ce qu'un chef d'état-majeur des armées a qualifié récemment de "hiver budgétaire". Les choix difficiles auxquels sont confrontées les nations peuvent avoir un impact sur les capacités globales de l'Alliance à remplir ses missions. Je dois donc en tant que responsable militaire faire en sorte de veiller à ce que l'on évite les trous capacitaires, les écarts de génération entre les matériels, mais aussi les duplications inutiles.

J'apporte l'expertise de mon état-major pour conseiller le Secrétaire-général, pour conseiller les nations dans la recherche de solutions, en particulier sous l'angle des coopérations multinationales, pour améliorer l'efficacité économique nous devons nous assurer que les capacités futures développées en commun répondent à un objectif bien compris et partagé tout en étant compatible, bien sûr, avec les budgets disponibles. Dans ce cadre, les relations avec les industriels sont vitales. C'est pourquoi, à mon commandement, nous avons établi des contacts déjà avec une vingtaine de société tant américaine qu'européenne. Je citerai des noms comme Thales, Mecanica, Microsoft, Safran pour n'en citer que quelques-unes.

Associer nos partenaires à toutes nos initiatives de transformation est également une de nos priorités. Lors de mes rencontres avec les dirigeants civils et militaires des pays partenaires de l'OTAN je perçois un fort intérêt pour une relation qui s'étend dans tous les domaines de la transformation. Je citerai à titre de témoins la présence cette année d'un sous-chef d'état-major russe à la conférence annuelle pour la transformation à Norfolk.

La relation entre l'OTAN et l'Union européenne occupe une place particulière dans nos partenariats pour des raisons évidentes qui ont été rappelées avec force à Lisbonne en novembre.

J'entretiens en particulier des relations suivies avec l'Agence européenne de défense dans le respect du cadre et des procédures agréées entre nos deux institutions. La coopération développée avec celle-ci dans des domaines tels que la lutte contre les engins explosifs improvisés ou le soutien médical en opération sont en train de livrer des résultats certes modestes à ce stade, mais déjà tangibles. Les contacts noués ont renforcé mes convictions quant au potentiel que représentent ces relations.

Enfin, vous savez que la responsabilité de mon commandement en matière d'entraînement est l'une des principales composantes de ma mission de soutien aux opérations en cours.

Nos centres d'entraînement au combat de Stavanger et de Bydgoszcz qui organisent des sessions de formation au profit de dirigeants de la police et de l'armée afghane et assurent la formation des formateurs, nous permettent d'accompagner la phase de transition en Afghanistan.

Dans le cadre de l'approche globale, ces centres proposent aussi de former ensemble des personnels afghans, des militaires de l'OTAN et des personnels des Nations-Unies et pourquoi pas de l'Union européenne.

Mais au-delà de l'Afghanistan, mon état-major réfléchit aux besoins futurs et à la façon de faire évoluer l'entraînement notamment en développement la simulation.

Voilà quelques exemples que je voulais rapidement évoquer avec vous. J'ai conscience d'avoir été très succincts et je voulais surtout ne pas prendre trop de temps pour laisser un maximum d'espace aux questions que je suis maintenant heureux de pouvoir répondre.

OANA LUNGESCU: Please don't forget to identify ourselves with saying who you work for and the General has kindly offered to answer questions in the language in which they're asking, so you can ask either in French or in English.

Q: Thank you, General. Anna Pisigniero from the Spanish News Agency Europa Press. I don't know if you can let us know which are the critical capacities that, you know, the NATO has to be looking at in the future, especially thinking with what kind of companies, industry, partner... partenariat, how we can go about this? Thank you so much.

GENERAL STÉPHANE ABRIAL: There are a large number of capacities and capabilities where we need to look at. Very important in my mind is that we, through our common work, develop interoperability. Whatever capability is needed. Very important in my mind is also the fact that when we talk capability we don't talk purely a piece of equipment, but we consider the whole spectrum, which makes this capability effective, starting with doctrine concept and ending with training and maintenance.

The material part is only one part of what I would call a capability in the broader sense.

We're working very much now in identifying what could be the trends for the future, and I mentioned cyberspace is one. It's a domain in which we have to work a lot. As you know, especially as we know in your country we have recently accredited a centre of excellent close to Madrid working on countering improvised explosive devices because my vision that this is a threat with us now and for long... well beyond Afghanistan probably. And we have to make sure that our troops are trained and can operate safely and with confidence in an IED polluted environment.

This is just one example. We are working in another field which is extremely important. We have much progress to do in harmonizing the way we treat from a medical side our soldiers in the field. All our nations do not have the same standards, the same way to treat a wounded soldier. These are just a few examples, but this is just to show you how important is that we look across the spectrum of what considers the capability and that we do it together, member nations and as much as possible partner nations so that when we do operate together we are interoperable.

Q: Alexander Mineev, Novaïa Gazeta. En général, vous avez parlé d'une conférence de Norfolk. C'est quand? Et le rôle du sous-chef des états-majors de la Russie, quel est son rôle dans cette conférence? De quelle coopération s'agit-il?

GÉNÉRAL STÉPHANE ABRIAL: Un des axes de mes efforts quand je suis arrivé à la tête de ce commandement a été de créer un réseau des responsables de transformation, aussi bien au sein des pays membres de l'Alliance que chez les pays partenaires. Et un élément de cet... de fonctionnement de ce réseau, c'est ce que nous appelons la Conférence des chefs de transformation—Chief of Transformation Conference—c'est quelque chose que nous organisons une fois par an et où vient pour chaque pays une délégation menée par l'homme que son chef d'état-major a désigné comme étant le point clé de la transformation. Et le général russe que nous avons accueilli jouait ce rôle pour son état-major.

Q: To follow up my colleague's question, what about the European Union? And there was... you talked about that you will try to do your best with the limited budget or the available budget, so how can you deal with European Union to avoid any duplication of efforts, especially...

OANA LUNGESCU: Sorry, can you please introduce yourself?

Q: I'm sorry, Tareq Mahmoud from the Middle East News Agency.

GENERAL STÉPHANE ABRIAL: We are working very closely with our colleagues of the European Union and for very understandable reason since as everybody knows, I think I already mentioned it today, 21 nations belong to both organizations. We all know also that there are some limitations in the way the two institutions can cooperate. This is a political situation in which we have to deal with. We hope this situation can be solved, but as long as it is not we have to deal... to work within the framework which have been agreed by our nations within these two organizations.

On the EU side the institution which has a mandate closest to mine is the EDA, the European Defence Agency. And therefore we work together on various projects trying to identify where, for example, both institutions have decided to work on. Countering IED was a good example. Medical support is another one. Network enhanced capabilities could be the third one. We have today five main... on main topics on which we work together, start-to-stop contacts and we can try to improve the effectiveness and the efficiency in identifying existing duplications and trying to resolve them, making sure that we do not create additional ones, because for obvious reasons we cannot afford any duplication in those times.

And making sure that also we do develop our work in compatible ways. The way capability development is addressed in the EU is not similar as the way we do it in NATO, and I will say rightly so, because the two organizations don't have the same membership and have the same objectives, don't have the same tasks. But at least my vision should try to make the work for the nations as easy as possible.

So these are the main trends of work when we do some work in common with the EDA.

Q: Yes, Brooks Tigner, Jane's Defense. What about the other potential area of cooperation, CBRN? By that I don't mean the international treaty work on weapons of mass destruction, I don't care about that. But down at the equipment level, CBRN detection. The EDA has rolled out the laboratory to Afghanistan, or is going to on IED forensics. Couldn't they do the same on other access of CBRN and where do the two organizations hope to cooperate there?

GENERAL STÉPHANE ABRIAL: Thank you for refreshing my memory. CBRN is one of the five domains I have mentioned. I didn't want to overwhelm you with old topics and old acronyms. (Laughs). Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear issues. It is one of the issues on which we are working together with EDA and it's a good example because as of last summer we could develop courses, CBRN courses to which members of both organizations can go whether they belong to one organization or the other one or to both. So it's a good example of a flexibility which we have, again, within the good framework within the two organizations.

Q: (Inaudible...) in the future equipment interoperability between EDA and NATO?

GENERAL STÉPHANE ABRIAL: Well, I think this is... interoperability is a central issue in all our endeavours, because when we have to fight some nations decide we need to fight together and therefore to be interoperable, quite obviously. But it's not up to EDA and ACT to decide that because as you well know more (inaudible...) of the equipment in the forces belong to the nations be insufficient to themselves and have very little equipment. So our job, on both sides, is to make sure that we promote interoperability, that we give the right incentives, that we show the way and then it's up to the nations to decide how to do. And for that matter I would argue that the recent initiative by the Secretary General, who encouraged multinational initiatives in the smart defence vision is a great step in this direction.

Because the more we do things together, our nations do things together, the more we promote this notion of interoperability. And then EDA, ACT have to be seen as enablers, facilitators, clearing houses, but the nations are sovereign and they will procure.

Q: Nick Fiorenza, Defence Technology International. I was interested in what you were saying about interoperability before in its broadest sense and talking about it including having common standards, but how do you actually avoid interoperability in that sense lowering standards, making let's say the countries that have the higher standards have to come down to meet, let's say, the ones with lower standards?

GENERAL STÉPHANE ABRIAL: It's a very difficult question. (Laughs). It's a very difficult question because you have to convince everybody that the solution you're proposing is better for everybody.

There is, I guess, in every profession, the tendency to go to the best solution, to the 120 percent solution. I would like it, but sometimes the 80 percent solution is better because you can have it faster, because you can have it cheaper and because you can share it better.

So I don't want to deny, and I have no authority for that, any nation to go for the highest possible solution, but in so doing we have to make sure that inside this capability there is a provision for others' less advanced technology to stay interoperable. Because if one piece of equipment belonging to one nation goes to high on the technology spectrum and cannot talk, interface with anybody else, then it might be the best one, but it might not be very useful. If you cannot share it, or you cannot use it for other purposes.

So the more you develop something above the technology level wanted by the other nations the more you have to make sure that there is a step inside where the interoperability is maintained, and then you may have capabilities on top for your own benefit.

Q: Richard Werly du quotidien suisse Le Temps. Sur vos relations avec les industriels, vous pourriez nous en dire plus. Il s'agit de quoi. Est-ce que l'ACT a la capacité par exemple de passer des commandes de matériel? Ou est-ce qu'il s'agit de proposer aux États membres des priorités de matériel? Vous pourriez nous en dire plus.

GÉNÉRAL STÉPHANE ABRIAL: Bien sûr, j'ai été trop elliptique pardon. ACT a un gros avantage dans ce domaine. C'est que nous, nous ne sommes pas une agence d'acquisition. Je ne passe aucune commande. Je dis que c'est un avantage, parce que ça permet de discuter beaucoup plus librement avec l'industrie. Ça permet d'évoquer beaucoup de choses, sachant qu'il n'y a pas de contrat à la fin de la réunion.

En revanche, ma vision que j'ai développée depuis un an et demi c'est que je cherche à partager un maximum de choses, reste toujours à la limite du raisonnable entre l'industrie et nous. Je cherche à faire en sorte qu'ils puissent savoir qu'elle est notre vision des engagements de demain et d'après-demain de manière à ce qu'ils puissent orienter un petit peu leurs travaux. Je cherche aussi à ce qu'eux puissent nous dire quelles sont les technologies qu'ils ont aujourd'hui et que nous ne connaîtrions peut-être pas, qui représente un emploi immédiat apportant des solutions à des problèmes opérationnels que nous aurions aujourd'hui. Et quelles sont aussi les technologies qu'ils développent et qu'ils envisagent pour le futur. Et dans tout cela, ils nous donnent une idée de temps et une idée de coûts. La vision globale devant aboutir à mon esprit à mieux orienter les travaux des deux côtés et à accélérer les cycles de production d'une part et à maîtriser les coûts d'autre part.

Comment est-ce que nous faisons ça? D'abord, encore une fois, comme j'avais évoqué rapidement, la porte est ouverte à l'ensemble des industries qui peuvent avoir un intérêt dans la défense. Pas seulement aux grands groupes de défense, je tiens à le préciser. Et je suis tout particulièrement attentif à ce que cette initiative soit connue aussi des petites et moyennes entreprises et encore une fois des deux côtés de l'Atlantique.

Nous organisons ce que nous avons appelé le FFCI, Framework For Collaborative Interaction with Industry. C'est un cadre formel dans lequel les deux partis s'engagent: ACT d'un côté; l'industrie, de l'autre. Totalement... un traitement totalement égal et comme on dit en français "fair"...

OANA LUNGESCU: Équitable.

GÉNÉRAL STÉPHANE ABRIAL: Équitable, merci beaucoup, pour l'ensemble de ceux qui voudraient participer. Un traitement qui garantit la confidentialité à partir au moment où on rentre un petit plus dans le dur, dans le noyau des choses, il y a des choses qui ne peuvent plus être mises sur la place publique. Les deux partis s'engagent fermement.

Et c'est à chaque fois un engagement bilatéral. Ce n'est pas un forum avec toute l'industrie en face de nous. C'est une industrie et nous. Ça se passe en plusieurs temps. D'abord, contact au plus haut niveau avec les "CEOs", ensuite on regarde quels seraient le genre de domaines dans lequel on pourrait travailler. Puis on identifie des projets. On décide ensemble quels sont sur lesquels on souhaite travailler. Il faut que ça intéresse l'industrie.

Mais il faut aussi que nous, ACT, nous y voyions un intérêt pour les pays membres de l'OTAN. Et ensuite on travaille ponctuellement, concrètement sur lesdits projets. Nous avons déjà un peu plus de 20 entreprises de tailles différentes qui participent avec nous à cette FFCI.

Et elles s'échelonnent sur l'ensemble des quatre... cinq cercles concentriques que j'ai décrit. Certaines sont très avancées. Des projets sont déjà en cours. D'autres sont simplement au stade des premiers contacts. Les premiers retours que nous en avons sont très bons. L'industrie a besoin de ça. Elle a besoin de mieux comprendre ce que nous envisageons pour l'avenir. Et pour nous, encore une fois, je vous ai dit ma vision: accélérer... accélérer les délais, maîtriser les coûts. Mon espoir est comme ça: On arrivera à la phase acquisition. Ils ne sont donc... Ils ne sont pas dans mon mandat. Eh bien, ça se passera mieux, sachant que les 28 nations de l'OTAN auront participé à cette interface avec le FFCI et ça contribuera aussi à inciter les nations à travailler de manière multinationale.

Q: OK. Vous avez dit qu'il y a déjà quelques projets en cours. Est-ce que vous pouvez être un petit peu plus... ou donner un petit peu de détails de quels types de projets... quels types de capacité on est en train de parler?

GÉNÉRAL STÉPHANE ABRIAL: Je vais vous donner deux exemples très rapidement. Nous travaillons sur un réseau de laboratoires technico-opérationnels de manière à mettre en commun des moyens existants et d'avancer le plus vite face à cela.

Un autre exemple de ce que nous avons commencé à travailler, c'est le "cloud computing" avec une société particulière. Il y a quelques petits articles il y a 15 jours, 15 jours-deux mois, un domaine très prometteur. Nous ne savons pas où nous irons. Mais nous sommes sur une voie exploratoire. Nous voulons voir dans quelle mesure, cette notion de "cloud computing" qui est un peu dans tous les esprits peut être applicable à nos réseaux à nous, militaires et de quelle manière. Quels sont les avantages? Et quels seraient les éventuels problèmes? Voilà deux exemples parmi beaucoup d'autres.

LUNGESCU: If there are... Brooks, one very last question before we allow the General to go.

Q: Yes, critical infrastructure protection, leaving aside cyber defences and all of that, is there a role for NATO beyond direct military infrastructure and protecting military... protecting critical infrastructure land-based in your... beyond the military bases and beyond NATO's military infrastructure and should you be talking to the EU about this? Thank you.

GENERAL STÉPHANE ABRIAL: I would say that's as matter of policy, not of transformation. And the moment you say land you say sovereignty. So it's up to the nations to decide how much you would like to be solely responsible, or how much you would like to do collectively.

The only exception to that would be in case of an attack, which we recognize as such and even a nation asks for an invocation of Article 5 and then it's up to the 28 to decide whether it's accepted or not.

OANA LUNGESCU: Thank you very much, General.

GENERAL STÉPHANE ABRIAL: Thank you, Oana. Thank you all.

OANA LUNGESCU: We'll let you get on with your agenda.

GENERAL STÉPHANE ABRIAL: We'll continue to the next meeting. I wish you good luck and have a good meeting yourself.

OANA LUNGESCU: Thank you very much and we'll see you at the seminar tomorrow.

GENERAL STÉPHANE ABRIAL: Thanks.

OANA LUNGESCU: Okay. The seminar... Merci, au revoir.

The NATO Secretary General will address the seminar that General Abrial was talking about tomorrow. And he intends to encourage all those present, the NATO ambassadors and their military counterparts, to take forward the notion of smart defence that he put forward in his speech at the Munich Security Conference.

And this, as you may remember, includes looking at how to make this cooperative approach more feasible, how we can build upon existing multinational initiatives within NATO, and with partners.

Next Monday the Secretary General will meet the president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Karl Lamers. After that the NAC, the NATO ambassadors, will hold their annual meeting with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly to discuss the current political agenda, the follow-up for the Lisbon Summit and priorities for 2011.

On Thursday, that's the 24th of February, the Secretary General will make a trip to Ukraine, his first trip to Ukraine, where he's going to meet President Yanukovych, Prime Minister Azarov. He will also deliver a speech at the Kiev State University Taras Shevchenko.

And the focus of the trip will be on strengthening NATO-Ukraine cooperation, with a particular focus on emerging challenges.

On Friday, so straight on from Ukraine, the Secretary General will travel to Budapest for a bilateral visit to Hungary, where he will meet President Schmitt, Prime Minister Orbán, the Foreign Minister, Mr. Martonyi and the Defence Minister Mr. Hende, to discuss the way forward with the Lisbon agenda. The focus will be very much on the upcoming ministerial meetings, how to turn the new strategic concepts into action and the need to build security even in this age of austerity. Again, continuing on what he talked about at Munich.

While in Budapest the Secretary General will also attend the informal EU Defence Ministers on Friday where he will raise the issue of NATO and EU cooperation, which he's identified as one way of moving forward with smart defence. I don't know how many of them... how many of you, rather, will be going to that informal in Budapest. There will be at least a doorstep, if not more, but we'll let you know.

On March the 1st the Secretary General will meet the president of Kyrgyzstan, Roza Otunbaeva, at NATO Headquarters and that meeting will be followed by a press point.

And just to end on several points on partnership, as you know, NATO is developing a new partnership policy, as was decided at the Lisbon Summit and the Secretary General will host a partnership seminar with NATO ambassadors on the 23rd of February to look at how to adapt partnerships to better tackle new security challenges, to increase practical cooperation and also political dialogue with partners, political consultations and a decision on that partnership policy will be one of the key items on the agenda of the NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Berlin in April.

As you may know, the Secretary General travelled to Israel last week. Obviously Israel is a partner in the Mediterranean Dialogue. That was his first trip to Israel as the Secretary General, and we have just returned to Qatar, a country that's one of the partners in the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative and naturally all 28 ambassadors were there to take part in a NAC-ICI conference on partnership.

Obviously both these trips took place at an extraordinary time in the broader Middle East where we can all feel the winds of change, as the Secretary General put it in his blog. NATO does not interfere with the situation in individual partner countries, but the Secretary General welcomed that the legitimate demands of the people of Egypt are being addressed. We expect the military to live up to their promise to deliver democratic reform.

NATO is an alliance of democracies. As such we're convinced that democracy, the respect for individual freedom, for human rights is the only way forward for long-term stability.

So if you have any questions I'll be happy to address those. David.

Q: Oana, I just wondered if NATO has any particular issue with the possibility of Iranian warships passing through the Suez Canal?

OANA LUNGESCU: I haven't seen an official confirmation of that. And it's not for NATO to make any comment. I think it is up to the Suez Canal authorities to confirm that and to answer that request, if there is one.

Q: But I don't think it's happened yet, but there seems to be an Iranian intention to try and send more ships through. I just wondered if NATO has an issue if that actually happens? Does it see any security risk emanating from it?

OANA LUNGESCU: As I said it's for the Suez Canal authorities to answer that request when and if it should come up.

Yes.

Q: Oana, what was the focus of the meeting in Doha, and if there are further meetings arranged with the ICI partners? Thank you.

OANA LUNGESCU: On the one hand there was a bilateral trip that the Secretary General paid to Doha. He saw the Crown prince, the Prime Minister, the Chief of Defence and the focus was very much on the current situation in the region. And on how we can take partnerships forward with Qatar and with the other countries in the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative.

One of the possible focuses in this partnership we could do more, for instance, on energy security, on counter piracy, on countering terrorism or the new emerging challenges that we all face and that no nation can tackle alone.

There was also, as I said, in parallel, a conference where the entire NAC took part, all the 28 ambassadors, and representatives of the ICI, and also from Saudi Arabia. And Oman.

Anna

Q: I'm Anna Pisigniero from the Spanish News Agency, Europa Press. Can we say that these areas of potential cooperation with Istanbul states, were these the kind of areas as well the Secretary General talked with his Israeli counterparts that can also be extended to the Mediterranean Dialogue countries?

OANA LUNGESCU: Yeah, obviously Israel is one of the partners in the Mediterranean Dialogue and what NATO is doing after the Lisbon Summit is to fully open up its toolbox of partnership activities to all of its partners and these visits to Israel, to Qatar, the seminar, the conference, were parts of that exploratory process to see how we can take forward the partnerships, because this is not just about NATO talking to partners, it's also about listening to their concerns, their ideas, their suggestions and taking those onboard before we make a decision on the new partnership policy at the Berlin ministerial in April.

Q: What's (inaudible...) on cyber defence? I mean, I think the next... is it the next formal Defence ministerial in June that's supposed to actually come up with an agreed policy? But I mean, if you look at the Summit documents, I mean, I was only able to find the word cyber mentioned a couple of times and it seems to be pretty thin, needing to be fleshed out.

OANA LUNGESCU: That's still a work in progress, but I think the timeline is exactly as you outlined it.

Q: Things look very bleak for the MEADS defence system, air defence system. How much of a setback is that for NATO's missile defence plans? Do you have any comment on that?

OANA LUNGESCU: Well, the United States informed NATO about their decision. What I can say is that NATO's ability to implement the agreement made by Heads of State and Government at Lisbon is not affected by this decision. This decision will not call into action... into... let me say that again. This decision will not call into question the decision that was made at Lisbon to develop a NATO missile defence system.

My understanding is that Germany and Italy already have assets that can contribute to NATO's efforts, and it is up to Germany and Italy to say how that develops. But I think what is important to note in the U.S. decision is that the fact that they have clearly reiterated the fact that the phased adaptive approach in Europe remains their primary priority and that, of course, will be a key national contribution to NATO's own missile defence system.

Q: Since some time we see a terrible distortion in the defence spending this side and the other side of the Atlantic. Is this a consequence of that big gap? That again a project in Europe has been more or less sidelined because the U.S. have pulled out?

OANA LUNGESCU: I wouldn't use the word sidelined because my understanding is that the Memorandum of Understanding will continue as it stands, so the developments of the project will continue until 2014, as was already decided. And in terms of multinational defence projects, I don't think there are many more of those ongoing right now so I don't think you can say that it hangs on just one project.

Q: Alexander Mineev. Just two small questions. The first one, there was a leak some weeks ago about a reflection inside of NATO regarding the cooperation with the collective defence treaty, which means the organization of some post-Soviet states. What is the state of play in this field?

And the second one, what is the state of play of the helicopter package? Is the trust fund founded or not yet and how it's being developed?

OANA LUNGESCU: On the first question, Alexander, I can only repeat NATO's well-known position which is that we do not comment on alleged leaked documents. And on the helicopter package, yes, there is work under way. There's ongoing discussions and consultations on the helicopter package, and that is part of the ongoing discussions that NATO has with Russia and we're quite hopeful that we will be able to come to an agreement soon. (Inaudible).

Q: Oana, just a quick one. The Russian Prime Minister's in town next week. Can you confirm there's no meetings with NATO officials foreseen?

OANA LUNGESCU: We've not received a Russian request for the Prime Minister to visit NATO, but you will recall that the Secretary General, Mr. Rasmussen, was in Moscow not so long ago. Actually before the Lisbon Summit. Of course, President Medvedev was at the Lisbon Summit so there's very intensive consultation with Russian leaders and after the historic decisions that were taken in Lisbon, the spirit of Lisbon carries on and we are continuing very positive cooperation with Russia in the NATO-Russia Council.

Q: The short answers is no.

OANA LUNGESCU: The short answer is we have not received a Russian request for Prime Minister Putin to visit NATO.

Q: Can I just follow up on that?

OANA LUNGESCU: David.

Q: I don't know what the protocol is with these things, but did Rasmussen suggest or request a meeting with Putin, given that he's in Brussels?

OANA LUNGESCU: As I said, we have not received the Russian request for Prime Minister Putin to visit NATO.

Q: So he didn't make (inaudible...).

OANA LUNGESCU: We... (Laughs). I was not aware of this visit, to be honest until... we've been travelling all this time, so I can't tell you more than I've already said. Brooks.

Q: Yes, smart defence, I have to come back to this subject. I mean, all SecGens have had their version of smart defence since the fall of the Berlin Wall and I'm known to be very cynical about this. I'll eat my words hoping that NATO proves me wrong. But, how is this smart defence? Can you pleas try and explain to us, how is this going to be different or more effective than all the others?

Is it just a matter of pressure? Is it the reform program? Is it.. do you have other specifics in mind, but how's this going to be different?

OANA LUNGESCU: Well I think the speech at Munich started the ball rolling and there is now an ongoing process of discussions, of consultations. The Secretary General has put forward some concrete proposals in their speech. He's also mentioned a lot of concrete examples that represent good... the good way forward for both allies and partners and he is very determined to push forward.

Anna?

Q: Sorry, this is a very national question. Yesterday our Minister of Defence, Chacon, in the Congress she announced that... well, she kind of implied that we would lose the (inaudible...), the (inaudible...)... the...

OANA LUNGESCU: Command headquarters.

Q: Yes. But in exchange we would get some extra common financiation(sic) for Bétera and for Rota, for the bases in Rota and Bétera. Apparently there was... she announced that she met with Secretary General Rasmussen on the 18th of January, so I think this was a bit more personal, private meeting, and Rasmussen would have confirmed this to her there. So I don't know if you can let us know something on this.

Thank you.

OANA LUNGESCU: All I can confirm is that there was, indeed, a Minister... there was indeed a meeting between the Secretary General and Minister Chacon some time ago as part of his ongoing consultations with Defence Ministers. I can't confirm anything else. Obviously, as you know, there is an ongoing discussion about command headquarters reform.

I take it this is all. Thank you very much.