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NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte

Good evening. And first of all, let me acknowledge the presence of so many ambassadors, so your excellencies, Bill White and Matt Whitaker, my friends from the United States. But also so many others here, the generals and Admiral, great that you're here, Theo, and, of course, all the other participants and the men and women in uniform. A really good evening. It's really great to be here. I feel very, very excited.

And again, I want to thank Theo, and I want to thank Belgium for this first important edition of the Brussels European Defence Exhibition.

Today’s event, BEDEX, is a première. An important event. And indeed that is, Theo, why it is my second visit today. I spent some time talking to companies at their stands earlier this afternoon, so this evening's dinner gives us the opportunity to continue the conversation, and now we can have that conversation all together.

And this is where defence companies, where US industry leaders, tech firms across Europe and North America, come together. It's indeed an impressive show of transatlantic industrial and technological power. And this is exactly what we need in the current times.

I want to thank you all for your work and what you're doing, the capabilities you produce, the innovation you bring to the world. And let me say, so much more. It's indispensable for our security now, today, and even more so, I can assure you, in the future.

I've had the honour to meet many of you on previous occasions, and I've visited several of your companies, and I believe that maintaining a close dialogue with industry should be one of my top priorities, and I can assure you, it is one of my top priorities. So I'm really pleased to engage with you here tonight.

There is simply no security without strong defence, and there is no strong defence without a strong industry and innovative tech companies. And that is you here in this room. You play a key role to protect our freedom, to protect our security in these dangerous times. And yes, I don't have to explain this to you.

I'm preaching to the choir, but let's agree that we are indeed, at this moment, facing real and lasting dangers. And this is from the Artic to the Black Sea. It is from outer space to the sea bed. It is from missiles and drones to sophisticated cyber-attacks. Russia's war against Ukraine is raging on, and now there is the campaign by Israel and United States in the Middle East to take out the nuclear and the missile capability of Iran. And I think it is crucial that the world becomes safer through this.

Our security environment is therefore turbulent, to say the very least, and that is why at NATO, we are constantly boosting our deterrence and defence.

Last year at the NATO Summit in my hometown, The Hague, Allies made, as you know, a historic commitment, and it was a substantial effort to invest 5% - I repeat, 5% - of their GDP annually in defence and security by 2035.

And they also agreed to indeed speed up what you are doing, the defence production and the innovation. And I'm glad to say that we are already making visible progress. We are delivering on these commitments. More money is allocated for defence. Europe and Canada are really stepping up. They are taking on a greater share of responsibility for their own security, and those Allies, Canada and Europe, are now on a trajectory to equalise their defence spending with the United States. And I think that is only right, and that is fair.

Some Allies, like Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, are already at -or even above- our investment goals, and they are doing this a decade ahead of schedule. Others are making great strides. Like Germany, which is on track. Ambassador, you are sitting at that table. You are, as Germany, on track to double the investment in defence by 2029 from just a few years ago.

You will be spending 153 billion euros on defence in 2029. That is more than the French and the Brits combined. And also the French and the Brits are in the process of ramping up their defence spending.

So all these countries are leading by example. And I know and I expect more Allies to put forward concrete plans for increased investments, and they will do so, no doubt - I will make them do if necessary – ahead of the next NATO Summit in Ankara, which will take place in July this year.

But of course, and this is my core message tonight, money doesn't keep us safe. Capabilities do. And that is where you come in, because you produce them. And here too, we are making progress. That's the good news. We see factories reopening. We see new factories being built to ensure we deliver the right capabilities at the right time. So, in that sense, you could argue we are starting to turn the tide, especially when it comes to ammunition production. So that's good, but hey - and this is the negative news - we are not yet there. We still need to do much more, because producing more ammunition is, of course, one thing, but we also need to produce more of the other capabilities, and this includes armoured vehicles, tanks, warships, aircraft, cyber and space capabilities, and, of course, air defence, air defence, air defence. That's an absolute priority. It reflects the current requirements. It reflects the current context. It reflects also, let's be honest, decades of under investment in defence.

We need - and this is a crazy number - we need 400% increase. A 400% increase in air defence systems. But we are still far from reaching our target. And yet we see every day in Ukraine and now in the Middle East that aerial threats pose a real and growing danger from advanced missiles to low-cost drones, and that's what we need to prepare for. And you, please, you need to be ready. There must be the capacity to expand our arsenals.

So tonight, I want to ask you, basically, a few things. First of all, I need you to speed up. We don't have the luxury of time to develop and produce more capabilities. We need them now. We need them to be ready tomorrow. Our adversaries and competitors are churning out military equipment around the clock. Look at Russia, which is at the moment basically spending 40% of its state budget on defence, and the whole industrial base in Russia is now producing for the war effort. So we need you to do this around the clock. To stay safe, we must out, compete, out, produce and outsmart not only Russia, but all our adversaries. There is simply no time to waste.

Second, people. Please keep on building up your work forces. Look around you here at BEDEX and in each and every one of your companies, people are the life and the blood of the defence industry. You know this. So, to ramp up production, you will also need more people. But this is the fact: a young graduate, starting his or her engineering training now, will be ready to work in the defence industry only in 2030. So we need to ask ourselves this question, are we doing enough to attract these young people today so that we are able to produce at pace and skill in the near future.

And then the third element - and this is really crucial - the third element is cooperation, and above all, transatlantic cooperation, because this is what NATO is about: produce and innovate together across Europe, Canada and the United States.

And yes, we absolutely need a stronger and more capable European defence with a re-energised European defence industry. And Europe is stepping up, and that's exactly right. And as a European, I take great pride in that. Over time, NATO will be more and more European led.

But at the same time, we must be realistic and pragmatic when it comes to our security. A continued, strong US presence, both nuclear and conventional, remains imperative, and we rely heavily on some state-of-the-art capabilities using high-end technologies that only the United States produces at scale.

So the bottom line is that our defence is strongest when we combine the ideas, the assets, the industry we have across NATO. This precisely is our strength.

And many of your companies already know what transatlantic cooperation means, and the benefits that come from it for your businesses and for your society. Let me just give you a couple of examples.

In September 2026, MBDA and RTX – and by the way, good to see you again tonight here, sir, from RTX – in September 2026, MBDA and RTX will open the first facility in Europe to manufacture Patriot missiles. And the European defence company MSM Group is constructing a cutting-edge production facility for artillery ammunition in the United States, in Iowa. Starting in 2029, the facility will produce nearly half a million rounds per year. And I believe this is the progress we need on both sides of the Atlantic, and we need more of it.

From where I stand at NATO, I see evidence of a real shift in mindset when it comes to our security. There is a real unity of vision and unity of action, and there is a real sense of urgency and ownership in how we are working together to deliver effective deterrence and defence.

The mindset of our political leaders is shifting, so now it's time for industry to shift too, to produce more, faster and yes, transatlantic, together. Our security depends on it.

So again, thank you very much for what you are doing, and I wish you an excellent event over the coming days. Thank you so much.