Secretary General previews meetings of NATO Foreign Ministers
NATO Foreign Ministers will meet in Bucharest, Romania on Tuesday and Wednesday (29-30 November 2022) to address Russia’s illegal war, NATO’s support for Kyiv and other partners, ways to strengthen resilience, and the challenges posed by China.
Previewing the meeting, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that “NATO will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. We will not back down.” He added “it is in our security interest to support Ukraine” and explained that “there can be no lasting peace if the aggressor wins”. In Bucharest, NATO foreign ministers will meet with their Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba to discuss Ukraine’s most urgent needs. Mr Stoltenberg said that he would call on Allies to provide more support through NATO’s Comprehensive Assistance Package, which has been delivering fuel, medical supplies, winter equipment, and drone jammers, and added that NATO will help Ukraine transition from Soviet-era equipment to modern NATO standards, doctrine, and training over the longer term.
“The war in Ukraine has demonstrated our dangerous dependency on Russian gas,” said the Secretary General, “so we must assess our dependencies on other authoritarian regimes, not least China.” He added: “we must manage the risks, reduce our vulnerabilities, and increase our resilience”.
The foreign ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and Moldova will be present in Bucharest to discuss their growing cooperation with NATO at this challenging time. The Secretary General said that these three countries “are facing Russian pressure in many different ways, so at our meeting we will take further steps to help them protect their independence, and strengthen their ability to defend themselves”.
The Secretary General concluded by saying that the foreign ministers of Finland and Sweden would join us for all the discussions in Bucharest. He emphasised that “it is time to finalise their accession process and welcome them as full-fledged members of our Alliance.”
