Joint press point

President Pahor, dear Borut,

It is great to see you here at the NATO Headquarters again. So really warm welcome to you.

And also thank you for your warm welcome and hospitality in Ljubljana in October when I met you there.  

Slovenia is a highly valued Ally. You contribute to our shared security and to our collective defence in many different ways.

And not least you play an important role in the Western Balkans. You help to address the challenges we face in that region. You are contributing significantly to our mission in Kosovo, KFOR, and you play an important role in bringing the region closer to the rest of Europe and the transatlantic family.

You also contribute to our training mission in Afghanistan, where we help to train, assist and advise the Afghan forces so they can fight terrorism and make sure that Afghanistan doesn’t once again become a safe haven for international terrorists.

This really reflects your strong commitment to our collective security, and our efforts to manage crises beyond our borders.

NATO is of course also committed to Slovenia’s security.

Allies ensure the safety of your airspace, because solidarity is at the core of our Alliance. 

Mr. President, we just had an excellent discussion about the adaptation of NATO.

After the end of the Cold War, NATO Allies reduced defence spending for many years, but now we see that Allies have started to invest again in defence, increase defence spending, because we live in a more unpredictable and uncertain security environment.

As we reduced spending when tension went down, we now have to increase spending again when tensions are going up. And I welcome the fact that Slovenia has started to increase its investments in defence. This is contributing to the overall efforts of European Allies and Canada.

And we know that by the end of next year, European Allies and Canada, with the support of Slovenia, would have added one hundred billion extra US dollars for defence spending.

We also appreciate very much your contributions to our enhanced readiness of our forces. And the fact that you participated in the Trident Juncture exercise in Norway shows the quality and the interoperability of the Slovenian forces.

So once again, welcome to the NATO Headquarters. Always good to see you.