Press conference by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg following the meetings of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs, 5 April 2023.
🗣 | NATO Secretary General:
Good afternoon.
We have just finished a substantive meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers to prepare for the Vilnius Summit in July.
We welcomed Finland as our newest member.
And Minister Haavisto took up Finland’s seat among NATO Allies.
Allies also agree that Sweden should become an Ally as quickly as possible.
We addressed many important topics over the past two days.
Including how to strengthen our political and practical support for Ukraine.
We met yesterday in the NATO-Ukraine Commission with Foreign Minister Kuleba.
We agree that our continued military support for Ukraine is essential.
I welcome the new commitments made by Allies.
And I expect more.
We also addressed our longer-term support.
We do not know when this war will end.
But when it does, we must ensure that President Putin cannot continue to chip away at European security.
So we must enable Ukraine to deter and defend against future aggression.
This includes strengthening Ukraine’s armed forces and arrangements for Ukraine’s security.
We agreed to start work on developing a strategic multi-year assistance program for Ukraine.
A clear demonstration that our support will continue for the long haul.
To increase Ukraine’s interoperability with NATO, and to bring it up to NATO standards.
This will assist Ukraine on its path to Euro-Atlantic integration.
Because Ukraine’s future is in the Euro-Atlantic family.
NATO Allies are committed to giving Ukraine what it needs to prevail as a sovereign, independent nation in Europe.
And to achieve a just and durable peace.
At the same time, we will continue to support our partners facing pressure from Russia, including Moldova, Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
We also discussed threats and challenges in the Middle East and North Africa.
Including instability, terrorism and the growing activities of Russia and China.
We will continue to work closely with our partners, including Mauritania and Tunisia, to help them build up their defence institutions and stabilise their countries.
To keep our people safe in a more dangerous world, it is essential that we invest more in our defence.
So today, Ministers also addressed progress on defence spending.
At the Vilnius Summit, I expect Allies to agree an ambitious new defence investment pledge, with 2% of GDP as a floor not ceiling.
For our final session, NATO’s Asia-Pacific partners – Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea – joined us.
Together with the European Union.
We discussed the global consequences of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
This war is not only an attack on Ukraine, but on the international rules-based order that preserves peace and stability.
If President Putin wins in Ukraine, it will send a dangerous message to authoritarian leaders around the world that they can achieve their goals through brute force.
So our support to Ukraine remains critical and it is in our shared security interest.
We also discussed China’s growing alignment with Russia.
China refuses to condemn Russia’s aggression.
It echoes Russian propaganda.
And it props up Russia’s economy.
China and Russia are also stepping up their joint military activities in the Indo-Pacific region.
Allies have been clear that any provision of lethal aid by China to Russia would be a historic mistake, with profound implications.
At a time when Beijing and Moscow are pushing back against the rules-based international order,
it is even more important that we continue to stand together.
As NATO Allies.
And with like-minded partners.
And with that I am ready to take your questions.
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