NATO Secretary General with seven NATO Heads of State and Government in The Hague 🇳🇱 , 27 JUN 2023

Joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the Prime Minister of The Netherlands, the Presidents of Lithuania, Poland and Romania, and the Prime Ministers of Belgium, Norway and Albania at Catshuis, The Hague, Netherlands, 27 June 2023. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg joined the leaders of seven NATO Allies in The Hague on Tuesday (27 June 2023) to help prepare the Alliance’s Summit in Vilnius. The meeting was co-hosted with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and included Prime Minister Edi Rama of Albania, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo of Belgium, President Gitanas Nausėda of Lithuania, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre of Norway, President Andrzej Duda of Poland and President Klaus Iohannis of Romania. 📺 Quicklinks / Chapters: ▶️ 00:18 🇳🇱 Prime Minister Mark Rutte ▶️ 04:43 NATO SG Jens Stoltenberg ▶️ 07:55 🇱🇹 President Gitanas Nausėda ▶️ 12:00 🇵🇱 President Andrzej Duda ▶️ 14:52 🇷🇴 President Klaus Iohannis ▶️ 20:53 🇧🇪 Prime Minister Alexander De Croo ▶️ 22:54 🇳🇴 Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre ▶️ 24:54 🇦🇱 Prime Minister Edi Rama ▶️ 27:17 🎙️ Q&A 🗣 | NATO Secretary General: Prime Minister Rutte, Dear Mark, Thank you for your warm welcome. And for hosting tonight’s meeting of seven NATO Allies here in The Hague. It is an honour to be a co-host of this very important dinner. Where we discussed the upcoming Summit. We all saw the events in Russia over the last days. These are internal Russian matters. But what is clear is that President Putin’s illegal war against Ukraine has deepened divisions, and created new tensions in Russia. At the same time, we must not underestimate Russia. So it is even more important that we continue to provide Ukraine with our support. And I expect that our Summit in Vilnius will send a clear message of our commitment. The Ukrainian forces are now pursuing a counteroffensive. The fighting is hard, but they are making progress. The more land the Ukrainians can liberate, the stronger their hand will eventually be at the negotiating table. I commend the Netherlands, and all Allies present here tonight, for providing critical support to Ukraine. This includes your contributions to NATO’s Comprehensive Assistance Package. And the Dutch and Danish-led initiative to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s. At the Summit, we will agree a multi-year programme for Ukraine. And we will upgrade our political ties. This will bring Ukraine closer to its rightful place in NATO. During the dinner we also discussed the next steps to strengthen NATO’s deterrence and defence. We are putting in place new defence plans, with assigned forces and capabilities, and high levels of readiness. Yesterday, I was in Lithuania to visit Exercise Griffin Storm. Which demonstrated that we can quickly reinforce the German-led battlegroup in Lithuania. And sent a clear message: NATO is ready to defend every inch of Allied territory. At the NATO Summit, I also expect Allies will agree on a more ambitious defence investment pledge. With 2 percent of GDP for defence as a floor, not a ceiling. Russia’s war in Ukraine demonstrates that we cannot take peace for granted. And that we must invest more in our security. So again, Prime Minister, dear Mark, It’s a real pleasure to be here with you and the other Allies. Transcript continues: ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ SUBSCRIBE to this channel SUBSCRIBE to NATO News SUBSCRIBE to NATO History Connect with NATO online: Visit the Official NATO Homepage: Receive NATO updates via email: Find NATO on FACEBOOK: Follow @NATO on TWITTER: Follow NATO on Instagram: Find NATO on LinkedIn: Find NATO on Flickr: #NATO #OTAN #Netherlands