Joint press point

Thank you so much Mr President Komorowski and thank you for our excellent meeting.

And let me also thank you for your strong personal commitment to a strong defence, and a strong Alliance.

And as you said I just come from the exercise Noble Jump. And this exercise is a strong expression of that NATO stands ready to defend and protect all Allies and protect and defend Poland against any threat.

This exercise in the western part of Poland is the first time our new Spearhead Force deployed for during an exercise.

And we saw more than 2,000 troops and soldiers from nine different NATO Allies, working together as one.

And I was impressed by the professionalism, by the dedication and the interoperability the Forces were able to show.

As you know, Mr. President, the first country I visited as Secretary General last fall was Poland and now I am back in Warsaw in Poland.

And that is a recognition of the key role Poland is playing in our Alliance. Both because you have invested so heavily in defence, you are reaching the goal of spending two per cent on defence, but also because you are going to host the next NATO Summit in Warsaw in July next year. 

The world has changed. We have witnessed the new and more challenging security environment. And NATO has to respond, we have to adapt.

And we are adapting by making our forces more ready, more prepared and we will continue to adapt. And one of the main issues we are going to address at the Summit in Warsaw next year is how we can continue to adapt the Alliance to ever more challenging and changing security environment.

And again I would like to thank Poland for its great contribution to the Alliance to our very collective defence and to once again underline that NATO is here to protect and defend Poland and all other Allies.

And I also like to thank you personally for your strong commitment, for your strong leadership that you have shown over so many years. And I appreciated very much the cooperation we have had and I appreciate also this opportunity to meet you again here in Warsaw. 

It has been a great pleasure working together with you and I wish you all the best in the future. Thank you so much Mr President.