NATO Secretary General - Doorstep statement at Defence Ministers Meeting, 17 OCT 2024

Doorstep statement by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte ahead of the meetings of NATO Ministers of Defence in Brussels, 17 October 2024.

🗣 | NATO Secretary General:

Happy to see you and happy to have this Defence Ministers meeting here today and tomorrow in Brussels.

Today, as you know, we will have the first opportunity to also welcome our Partners from the Indo-Pacific. New Zealand, Australia, Japan and South Korea and this is for the first time that they will participate in a defence ministerial meeting. The EU is also here today and that is important because we really want to reach out and work closely together with all our Partners and the EU is, as you know, a very important partner.

We will try to start the debate, building on what we have done for example at the Summit in Washington, of deepening that relationship and bringing it also forward in areas like innovation, how we can work together on industry production, how we can work together on fighting cyber crime et cetera and of course hybrid threats. So all of this will be discussed, no doubt, this afternoon.

Later today, I will have the honour to welcome President Volodymyr Zelenskyy here in this building. This will be my third opportunity to sit down with him after my visit to Kyiv couple of weeks ago and last week meeting him in London together with Prime Minister Keir Starmer. We have been on the phone so it is very good to have him here visiting to talk about what is happening now in Ukraine but also to update him on the considerable progress NATO is making on what we decided in Washington. The pledge, as you know, the 20.9 billion, are now in the pocket first half of this year and we are in a good space on delivering the full 40 billion at the end of this year.

I was on Monday in Wiesbaden at the Command being set up, NSATU, which will bring together so many aspects of our support for Ukraine in a coordinated manner. So I will update him on this.

And of course on all the ongoing efforts to make sure that for the long haul, if necessary, we will keep supporting Ukraine. And that is our message to Putin. We are in this, if necessary, for the long haul. Obviously we want to be in a place where Zelenskyy and Ukraine, from a position of strength, is able to start talks with Russia but till that moment comes he can count on continuing support and Putin cannot count on us letting go of that support. We will keep this going and this is what we are all committed about. This is what I hear consistently in all my talks in the Alliance.

I also welcome what the US has announced yesterday, they already of course pledged 8 billion, very concretely yesterday they pledged almost half a billion dollars in air defence and other aid going into Ukraine. I welcome the Australian announcement yesterday about tanks, which will go to Ukraine. This is all good news. There were many other announcements. I will not go through the whole list but these were a few of the big ones I would like to mention this morning.

With that I am happy to take your questions.
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[APW-ryok]

This guy is the right guy for the job, need more people in charge like him .

[hauer]

Mark Rutte will do an excellent job... no bullshit, always to the point!

[ΔωροθέαΚαραπουρζιδου]

Good morning nice to hear Europeans with NATO and partners are aware and in partnership to solve not only European but Global challenges that affecting less privileged European Countries that not aware about all the Global issues. Everyone needs to get in the track now. There is no excuses. Update keep in touch with allies and partners in a civilised environment and relationships.

[ed.mil.]

Mark Rutte has just started a new job, but already feels like he's been in this job for a very long time.👏

[litlbit]

Clear-sighted and determined responses. I am reassured to see this leadership.

[graphitetalk]

I think Rutte is great for Nato. He is smart and tough .

[cylentone]

Perfect leadership pick. Stay strong. We are depending on NATO in Europe.

[erikzurcher]

I notice that Mark Rutte's English has improved greatly. He must have taken lessons. The accent is still there, but his choice of words is so much better. Well done, Mark.

[hannekezijlmans]

DW struggling to keep that mic steady... 😳😅

[karengiersing]

I actually do not think he said something new, how could he at this stage? But he seems form and clear, and I Wellcome his readiness to inform about NATO talks/work, and I see it as a good prognose for information from NATO in the future.
He speaks at behalf of all memers ofcourse, so saying that Ukraine will become member one day, sooner or later, is that in accordance with ex. Orban?
Just asking as I was happy, he stated that, but at the same time SURPRISED.

[walterrwrush]

That big the some of the pacific powers at NATO

[milahundepensiontaastrup-v]

His English is much better than Jens Stoltenberg!😊

[coffeediction]

So IF NK troops are on ukrainian soil, would this mean NATO can have their troops on their soil too?

[fairshareofdrownedsouls]

As someone who likes to read and watch WW2 history, hearing "Eastern Front" in a modern context is surreal. Peace will come eventually, though.

[Stalcius]

Great General. Great answers. Great NATO. More like this please. Thanks!

[alanmcmillan]

This new leader brings a refreshing directive for the future.

[SVITLANAK-wd]

Most often, journalists' questions are about Ukraine.
Only together, only united can we be strong and do an extraordinary thing in the XXI century.
NATO needs to show its indomitability and resilience.
There are no options here 💪

[j.vanderson]

The right man at the right position in the right crucial moment of NATO

[nian]

Who other than Ukraine would become no. 33? There is no one else. One of the small Balkan countries?

[twinproject]

As the People's Republic of China continues to aid Russia in its aggression against Ukraine, it is imperative that the entire Western world—comprising over one billion inhabitants—boycotts Chinese goods and companies investing in China. The Chinese Communist Party is highly sensitive to business matters, and trade with the West accounts for more than 62% of their gross domestic product.