Opening remarks

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Good morning, and welcome to this meeting of NATO defence ministers. This is the last milestone before our Summit in Ankara in just three weeks. Today we will address how European Allies and Canada are taking more responsibility for their conventional defence. To rebalance our security for the better, we are building a stronger Europe in a stronger NATO. That means Allies demonstrating clear progress and a credible path towards investing 5% of GDP on defence, and turning that increased spending into combat-ready forces and capabilities, now. We are already seeing truly impressive progress.

In 2025, European Allies in Canada invested over $90 billion more than the year before. That's an increase of nearly 20% in a single year and we already see, foreseeing, further increases when it comes to the books for 2026. To accelerate defence production and innovation in Europe and North America it is vital that we also turbocharge transatlantic defence cooperation. There is no other way.

We will also discuss issues outside of Europe that very much affect our security. Allies have long agreed that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, and today as a result of US action, they are further from that than at any time in recent memory. We all are heartened by the prospects for peace following the US-Iran agreement. Pete, this is truly a remarkable achievement. Thank you. And, of course, thank the President for this. Restoring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is vital for the global economy, so we will have the opportunity today to address Allies' concrete contributions to international efforts to support freedom of navigation.

On Ukraine, I expect further pledges of support to be made at the Ukraine Defence Contact Group later today, because we must continue to step up and sustain our support, so that Russia's brutal war ends. It is important that every Ally does their fair share, particularly through NATO's PURL Initiative, given its effectiveness at providing crucial air defence, which only the United States can deliver. But before we begin our closed session, my dear friend Pete, the US Secretary of War, has asked for the floor. So, Pete, the floor is yours.