Opening remarks by NATO Secretary General Mr. Jens Stoltenberg at second day of North Atlantic Council in Defence Ministers’ session
Transcript
So, Good Morning. I think we are ready to start. If you can find your seats. So good morning, welcome to all of you and I think we are ready to start this meeting. Today we will address NATO’s Deterrence and Defense Posture insuring that it remains fit for the future. To do, we need to keep investing in defense. Allies have already delivered 5 consecutive years of regrowth in defense budget. This will be an additional hundred billion dollars of national defense spending by the end of next year, but we need to keep up our efforts. We will also discuss the steps we are taking to improve the readiness of forces. Including the NATO Readiness Initiative. We will also assess all the ways we are enhancing our deterrence on defense. Including by improving our cyber defenses and strengthening our maritime posture. This concludes the public part of the meeting and I thank the media for being with us at the beginning. We will continue in just a moment.