NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg announced that historic decisions will be taken at the ongoing NATO Summit in Madrid, including inviting Sweden and Finland to become members, adopting the new Strategic Concept document, strengthening deterrence and defense, and increasing support for Ukraine.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg made a statement to journalists before the opening session of the NATO Summit in Madrid, Spain.
“Today we will take historic decisions,” Stoltenberg said, adding that the Strategic Concept document, which was last adopted at the Lisbon Summit in 2010, will be changed.
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Stoltenberg reminded that in the document at that time, China was not mentioned in a single word and Russia was seen as a strategic partner, and stated that in today’s document, it will be seen that Russia poses a direct threat to NATO’s security and China poses a challenge to NATO values and interests.
Noting that deterrence and defense will be strengthened, Stoltenberg reminded that more high readiness forces and troops in combat formations and pre-deployed military equipment will be prepared.
Stoltenberg stated that they expect the high readiness force, which is announced to consist of 300 thousand soldiers, to be ready next year, these troops will be kept ready in their own countries, and the costs will be financed by different allied countries.
Invitation to Sweden and Finland
Stoltenberg also said that a decision will be taken today on inviting Sweden and Finland to membership, following the signing of a trilateral memorandum by Turkey, Finland and Sweden yesterday.
Stoltenberg emphasized that the invitation of the two countries to membership within weeks after their membership applications on May 18 was an unprecedentedly quick process, and stated that the approval of the parliaments of 30 NATO allied countries is also needed in the membership process of the two countries, and that he cannot predict how long the approval processes will take.
Stoltenberg also noted that at the NATO Summit today, an agreement will be reached on a comprehensive support package for Ukraine’s military needs, and discussions and decisions will be made on many issues such as burden sharing, climate change and cyber security.
