NATO Secretary General calls for more support to Ukraine at World Economic Forum
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg participates in the plenary session “Restoring Security and Peace” in Davos
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg participated in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday (18 January 2023), where he called for more support to Ukraine.
In the plenary session on “Restoring Security and Peace”, the Secretary General stressed that NATO Allies have provided unprecedented support to help Ukraine uphold its right of self-defence, and called for deliveries of military equipment to be stepped up at this critical time. “Weapons are the way to peace,” he said, “what happens around the negotiating table is totally dependent on the strength on the battlefield. And if we want Ukraine to prevail, then they need the military strength’.
The Secretary General described the war in Ukraine as a “fight for democracy,” stating that “it is extremely important that President Putin doesn’t win this war – it will be a tragedy for Ukrainians, but also very dangerous for all of us. Because then the message to authoritarian leaders, not only to Putin, but also other authoritarian leaders is that when they use brutal force, when they violate international law, they achieve what they want. And that will be a very bad and dangerous lesson. It will make the world more dangerous and us more vulnerable.”
Other participants in the panel were President Andrzej Duda of Poland, First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko of Ukraine, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland of Canada, and U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines. The discussion was moderated by CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.
While in Davos, Mr Stoltenberg had a bilateral meeting with President Gitanas Nausėda of Lithuania, and also met with Swiss Federal Councillor Viola Amherd, Head of the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports; with the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska; ,Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, and other senior officials.
