NATO Secretary General with 🇺🇸 US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, 18 JUN 2024

Press conference by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg with the US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, Washington D.C., 18 June 2024.
🗣 | NATO Secretary General:
Secretary Blinken,
Dear Tony, thank you for your kind words and thank you for your support throughout these years in different ways.
Thank you also for your very strong commitment to NATO and to our transatlantic Alliance. And also thank you for your tireless efforts to end the suffering in the Middle East.
 
NATO was founded in Washington 75 years ago. Since then, the Alliance has been the ultimate security guarantee for all our members.
Standing together, we prevent war and preserve peace.
In NATO, the U.S. has 31 friends and Allies. Together, Allies represent half of the world’s economic and half of the world’s military might.
Advancing U.S. interests and multiplying America’s power,
NATO makes America stronger. Yesterday, as you mentioned Secretary Blinken with President Biden, I announced that NATO Allies are making major increases in defence spending.
This year, defence spending across Europe and Canada is up 18 percent, the biggest increase in decades.
23 Allies will meet the target of spending at least 2 percent of GDP on defence. This is more than twice as many as just four years ago.
Since 2014, Europe and Canada have added over 640 billion extra in defence spending.
This demonstrates a historic improvement in burden sharing within NATO.
It shows that the United States does not need to shoulder the burden alone.
And that the U.S. has a strong Alliance in which Allies are stepping up, year after year.
And much of this increased defence spending is spent right here in the United States.
Over the past two years, European Allies have signed contracts with American companies worth $140 billion.
 
Since 2014, NATO has undergone the most significant transformation in our collective defence in a generation.
We have put in place the most comprehensive defence plans since the Cold War.
We have 500,000 troops at high readiness, and we have doubled the number of battle groups in the eastern part of the Alliance.
And with Sweden and Finland as members, we are stronger than ever.
 
Russia’s war on Ukraine is a brutal assault on a peaceful democratic nation.
This war is propped up by China, North Korea and Iran.
They want to see the United States fail. They want to see NATO fail.
If they succeed in Ukraine, it will make us more vulnerable and the world more dangerous.
So our support for Ukraine is not charity. It is in our own security interest.
 
We all want this war to end. But a Russian occupation of Ukraine offers no peace, And capitulation to Putin offers no security.
The stronger our support, The sooner the war will end.
Which is why I welcome the 10-year bilateral security agreement between the United States and Ukraine.
Europe is also doing its part, matching U.S. efforts in Ukraine.
 
And at the NATO Summit this July, here in Washington, I expect European allies and Canada to come forward with more financial and military support.
And that leaders will agree that NATO takes the lead in coordinating the security assistance and training for Ukraine.
All of this will reduce the burden on the United States.
 
Secretary Blinken, I thank you and the US for hosting the Summit, which we all are looking forward to attend.
At the Summit we will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the most successful Alliance in history, but also make important decisions for the future.
Thank you.
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