Opening statement

Thank you so much and it’s great to be back in Downing Street and to meet with Prime Minister Cameron. And to meet an old friend because we have been working together for many years.

And I have seen your strong personal commitment to security, to NATO, both when we worked together when I was Prime Minister of Norway but especially now when I’m Secretary General of NATO.

And the UK is really leading the way when it comes to security, because you are contributing so much to our collective defence in Europe. You are contributing to our operations and missions in Afghanistan, in the Aegean Sea.

But also, as you mentioned, the UK is really showing the way for all the European NATO Allies when it comes to defence spending – upholding defence spending at 2 percent and more for defence which is of great importance for the whole Alliance.

So I actually use the UK as an example for all the European Allies. That it is possible to invest in defence and to meet the pledge we made together at the Summit in Wales, to the 2 percent of GDP on defence.

I’m looking forward to our discussions because we are going to address how NATO shall continue to adapt to a more challenging and difficult security environment. How we can further increase our strength and our collective defence. How we can step up our joint efforts to fight terrorism and ISIL and how we can do more together, tackling the migrants and refugees crisis. And also how we can expand further our cooperation between NATO and the European Union.

On all these issues I know that I can count on the UK and count on you David, so I’m looking forward to the meeting here today.

Thanks.