NATO Secretary General - Doorstep statement at Foreign Ministers Meeting, 04 APR 2023

Doorstep statement by the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the meetings of NATO Foreign Ministers at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, 4 April 2023.

As NATO foreign ministers meet in Brussels today (4 April 2023), Finland will become the 31st member of the Alliance. “On this very day, in 1949, the Washington Treaty, NATO’s founding treaty, was signed in Washington and it is hard to imagine a better way of celebrating our anniversary than to have Finland becoming a full member of the Alliance,” said Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Previewing the meetings of foreign ministers, the Secretary General said that Allies will address NATO’s support to Ukraine, security challenges emanating from the Middle East and North Africa, the importance of increased defence investments, and NATO’s Indo-Pacific partnerships.

🗣 | NATO Secretary General:

Good morning.
Today is an historic day.

Because in a few hours, we will welcome Finland as the thirty-first member of our Alliance.
This will make Finland safer and NATO stronger.

And on this very day, in 1949, the Washington Treaty, NATO’s founding Treaty was signed in Washington.

And it is hard to imagine a better way of celebrating our anniversary than to have Finland becoming a full member of the Alliance.

NATO’s Foreign Ministers meet at a pivotal time for our security.

We see that President Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine grinds on.

We will meet in the NATO-Ukraine Commission with the Foreign Minister Kuleba, where we will address how to sustain and ramp up support from NATO and NATO Allies to Ukraine.

Both the urgent needs but also, I expect that Allies will start to develop a more long-term and multi-year programme to assist and support Ukraine.

To help them develop interoperability with NATO Allies.
Move from Soviet era standards, doctrines to NATO standards and then move closer to the Euro-Atlantic family.

We will, tomorrow in our session, address a wide range of different security challenges, including those emanating from the Middle East and North Africa, including the fight against terrorism.

We will discuss how to invest more in defence.
And I expect that when Allies meet at the Summit in Vilnius later on, Allies will agree to have a more ambitious defence investment pledge where we regard 2% of GDP for defence not as ceiling but as a floor, a minimum that we need to spend more in a more dangerous world on our security.

And then, we will also meet with our Asia-Pacific partners –New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and South Korea.

Security is not regional, security is global. What happens in Europe matters for the Indo-Pacific, for Asia.
And what happens in Asia matters for Europe.

And the war in Ukraine really demonstrates that with all its global ramifications.

And also when you see that China and Russia are coming more and more closely, that they stand together, work together, it makes it even more obvious that we need to stand together with our partners in the Indo-Pacific.

With that I am ready to take your questions.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Connect with NATO online:

#NATO #OTAN #ForMin

[penttitapper]

🇫🇮 Long live Finland and long live NATO. This is a great and historic day for our country

[jeanclaudejunior]

Welcome to NATO Finland🇫🇮 from a Non-NATO country Switzerland 🇨🇭

[PointFear]

I been Waiting for this
Welcome Finland to The Nato Family 🇫🇮

Support From The Philippines 🇫🇮🇵🇭👍

[carpenter]

Right on, the world seems to be on track because of the courage of all the people fighting for freedom. Thank you.

[zeviono]

I'm a New Zealander and far away from the Atlantic, but I think we, Australia, South Korea and Japan should join NATO as well. Great to see Finland join on this historic day.

[Arcsurvivor]

NATO, best thing to ever happen to the free world. Congratulations Finland. 🎉🎶

[ramsestoo]

Welcome Finland, GREAT to have you in NATO, from Denmark - waiting for Sweden as well

[Mr.Monta]

Great news!!! Welcome Finland. Better late than never.

[uwgcghk]

EU countries need to do much more to support NATO.

[marlenfras]

Well done NATO. Well done Finland. Let's go Sweden. Go Ukraine.

[JorgeRosa]

Welcome Finland ! - From Portugal 🇵🇹 🇫🇮

[lynettefrancia]

Congratulations Finland... you're on the right tract

[LizaV]

This is a vital date for Finland and should be celebrated. This is a day that Finnish people are telling to Putler 'come with your tanks and rapers if you dare! So bad that Karelia is kept out of Finland. I hope they manage to get it back one day.

[rikulappi]

Finland does not really need extra ground troops. We continue to train (with) soldiers of our NATO friends.

[jeromedamian]

Putin brought all this upon him self. I don't see this ending until Putin leaves Ukraine completely.

[boris]

Well done NATO and Finland, Sweden will be officially in NATO soon. Russian is going to bolster it’s forces on the Finnish border, with T34 tanks towed into position by 1934model trucks🤣

[leothunder]

Hopefully in the near future someday We🇦🇺🇯🇵🇳🇿🇰🇷can go from being NATO's partner to NATO's member, we🇦🇺🇯🇵🇳🇿🇰🇷 can make NATO stronger and NATO can make us🇦🇺🇯🇵🇳🇿🇰🇷 safer.

[maheshkurana]

Butcher Putin became the most famous salesman of NATO 🙌😂