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Mr. President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen.
I am delighted to be here today – and deeply honored to receive this award.

It’s a particular honor to be recognized by a country which makes such an important contribution to NATO and our collective security.

In the 12 years since Romania joined the Alliance you have proven your worth again and again: through your involvement in NATO operations in Afghanistan and Kosovo; your hosting of key elements of NATO’s ballistic missile defense system; and your active contributions to the decisions at the Warsaw Summit to bolster NATO’s defense and deterrence posture. Those are just three of the many ways in which you are helping to advance the Alliance’s goal of a Europe whole, free and at peace, and to strengthen the transatlantic link.

But my pride in receiving this honor goes deeper than that. My ancestors came to America from Central and Eastern Europe over 100 years ago (a little to the North). And my career has often seemed intertwined with – and shaped by – the immense progress made in this part of the world since the end of the Cold War.

During the 1990s – while serving twice at NATO and, in between, at the National Security Council in Washington – I was closely involved in efforts to transcend and dismantle the barriers which, for too long, divided Europe.

I remember it as a time of excitement and optimism. The West reaching out to former Warsaw Pact nations – including a democratic Russia – in pursuit of peaceful cooperation, for the benefit of all.

I am especially proud to have helped shape the policy that enabled us to welcome Romania and other Central European countries into the North Atlantic Alliance. Adversaries becoming first partners, and then close friends and allies.

And every day at NATO headquarters, it’s been my privilege to witness the actions of your countrymen justifying that original decision: Romanian men and women, in your delegation and as part of NATO’s international civilian and military staff, helping to ensure that the Alliance is strong, and that Europe is safe.

I will miss working in an organization as diverse and dynamic as NATO. But I am proud to be ending my term as Deputy Secretary General now, at a time when the Alliance is stronger and more unified than ever, and when we are implementing the Warsaw Summit decisions that will protect NATO’s almost one billion citizens for the long term.

There’s plenty of work still to do, of course. But I am confident that, with the essential contribution Romania makes, NATO will meet – and overcome – the challenges we face.

Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you all for this very special honor.‎ Long live NATO, and a strong Romania within NATO!