Opening remarks

by the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the start of the North Atlantic Council Meeting with the National Security Advisers

  • 07 Oct. 2021 -
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  • Last updated: 07 Oct. 2021 10:57

(As delivered)

Good morning and welcome to all of you.
Welcome to the NATO Headquarters.

When our Leaders met here last  June, they reaffirmed that NATO remains the unique, essential and indispensable transatlantic forum for consultations and joint action.

On all matters related to our individual and collective security.

They also agreed to continue broadening and deepening our consultations.

Including by holding more frequent high-level engagements.
Today’s meeting of national security advisers is a step in that direction.

Our exchange comes at a pivotal time for our Alliance.

We face growing strategic competition, advancing authoritarianism and pervasive instability.

Driven by more aggressive Russian behaviour and an increasingly assertive China.

These trends have significant implications for our security, our democracies, and our way of life.

And they can only be tackled successfully if we work together.