NATO Secretary General commemorates 60th anniversary of the Three Wise Men Report
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg delivered a keynote address at Norway House in Brussels on Tuesday (13 December 2016) to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the landmark Three Wise Men Report. Speaking at a conference organised by Carnegie Europe, the Secretary General outlined the importance of political consultation and non-military cooperation in strengthening NATO’s unity and cohesion.
Mr. Stoltenberg explained that the Three Wise Men Report – produced by the foreign ministers of Canada, Italy and Norway in December 1956 – paved the way for the Alliance we see today: a forum for political consultation and open discussion, as well as a military alliance. The Report put forward a blueprint for more political consultation, as well as increased cultural, economic and scientific relationships within the Alliance. It reinforced NATO’s political role and introduced a more cooperative approach to security issues.
“The Report helped to change NATO from being almost entirely a military alliance into a political-military alliance,” said the Secretary General. The Three Wise Men recognised that Alliance unity is the backbone of NATO’s collective defence and deterrence, and that greater unity could only be achieved through increased political consultation and non-military cooperation. “Non-military cooperation can be as important for the security of a nation or an alliance as the building of a battleship or the equipping of an army,” said Mr. Stoltenberg.