Press conference by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg following the meeting of the North Atlantic Council with Resolute Support Operational Partner Nations and Potential Operational Partner Nations, October 25, 2019.
Transcript
Good afternoon. The Secretary General will update you on today’s meetings and then we’ll have time for a few questions. Secretary General.
Good afternoon. We have just finished a meeting on Afghanistan with all our operational partners in the Resolute Support Mission. NATO remains committed and we continue to support the Afghan security forces with training and with funding. This helps make the Afghan forces stronger, so they can fight international terrorism and create the conditions for peace. We discussed last month’s presidential election and I welcome that the Afghan forces played a key role in providing security for the vote. All parties should now exercise calm and restraint as the electoral bodies work to determine the result. We also discussed prospects for the peace process in Afghanistan. NATO supported the peace talks earlier this year and I would welcome them being resumed. But in order to make that possible, the Taliban need to demonstrate real willingness to make real compromises to reach a credible peace deal. Over the past two years, Defense Ministers have addressed a number of other issues for our shared security. This includes the situation in northeast Syria. We had an in-depth discussion yesterday. While Allies have different views, we agree that we must build on the significant reduction in violence to make progress in our efforts to find a political solution to the conflict in Syria, that we need to maintain commitment to our missions and operations in the region, and that we must safeguard the gains we have made in the fight against our common enemy, ISIS. I welcome the proposal. It is important that we continue exploring all means to achieve a sustainable solution on the ground. In this respect I welcome the proposal from the German defense minister for a safe zone and increased international involvement. We also discussed, together with our partners, the European Union, Finland, and Sweden, NATO’s response to hybrid threats, and our work to increase national resilience. Allies agreed an update to our baseline requirement for civilian telecommunications, including 5G. These requirements include the need for thorough risk and vulnerability assessments including to identify and mitigate cyber threats as well as the consequences of foreign ownership, control, or direct investment. This is important because next generation telecommunications will affect every aspect of our society, from transportation to healthcare to education as well as our military operations. We also addressed NATO’s missions and operations from the Western Balkans to the Middle East. And we assessed our progress in increasing the readiness of our forces. To keep our people safe, we need to be able to move our forces quickly whenever required. So today, ministers welcomed that we are now able to move planes across Europe with priority handling, something we call Rapid Air Mobility. Allied aircraft supporting NATO missions will be given a NATO Call Sign and they will receive priority handling by Air Traffic Control in Europe. This was made possible thanks to close cooperation with EUROCONTROL, which handles the flow of all air traffic over Europe. Today we also discussed the progress the Alliance is making on burden sharing. We see a clear positive trend. This is the fifth consecutive year of increased defense spending across European Allies and Canada. By the end of next year, those Allies will have added a cumulative total of one hundred billion U.S. dollars. But we still need to do more and this will be one of the main issues we address as we prepare for the Leaders Meeting in London. This Ministerial has helped lay the ground for the meeting of NATO leaders in London in December. Together, we are working to keep our Alliance strong and secure. And with that, I am ready to take your questions.