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Ministers, ladies and gentlemen, good morning and welcome to this informal meeting of NATO Defence Ministers in Vilnius.
Let me first of all thank Minister Olekas for hosting us in this beautiful city. We are grateful for your hospitality.
Our meetings today and tomorrow will provide further direction to NATO’s operations and missions, guide our ongoing defence transformation and help shape our preparations for the NATO Summit to be held in Bucharest in two months’ time.
NATO’s first and most important objective must be the success of its operations.
Let me first, on behalf of all of us, pay tribute to the men and women serving in all the NATO-led missions and operations; express our condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives, and our sympathy to those who have been wounded in service to the Alliance.
Afghanistan remains a very important operational priority.
The international community is helping the people of Afghanistan build a country at peace with itself and the world. And despite the daily challenges, progress is being made.
NATO is playing its full part, and we will discuss here in Vilnius how to further strengthen our operation. But success in Afghanistan means more than just military operations. It requires a truly comprehensive approach.
Which is why tomorrow we will meet with Minister Wardak of Afghanistan, non-NATO contributing nations, and representatives from the UN, EU and World Bank.
NATO forces are also playing a key role in ensuring peace and security in Kosovo, and that will continue undiminished. We will discuss the situation on the ground, and the regional political context, later today with the other countries in the KFOR mission.
We must also ensure that NATO is equipped and ready to deal with security challenges today and tomorrow. We will renew initiatives to remedy shortfalls and measures to enhance our ability to deploy forces over longer distances and time.
Nous débattrons également du renforcement de notre aptitude à relever de nouveaux défis comme le terrorisme, la prolifération, les cyberattaques et les menaces pour l'approvisionnement en ressources essentielles.
Nous aborderons aussi la défense anti-missiles dans le cadre de ces efforts.
Plus tard dans la journée, nous discuterons avec notre homologue ukrainien, M. Iouri Ekhanourov, des priorités de la coopération OTAN-Ukraine dans le domaine des opérations, et de la manière dont l’OTAN peut apporter un soutien supplémentaire à la transformation de la défense engagée par les autorités ukrainiennes.
Enfin, demain, nous rencontrerons le ministre russe de la Défense, M. Anatoli Serdioukov, afin de faire le point sur la coopération pratique OTAN-Russie – qui se déroule plutôt bien – et sur notre dialogue politique concernant certaines questions stratégiques clés : celles-ci sont parfois difficiles, ce qui rend nos discussions d'autant plus importantes.