NATO Secretary General visits Iceland
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed Iceland’s important contributions to international security during a visit to Reykjavik on Monday (11 June 2019). After meeting with Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, the Secretary General recalled that Iceland is a founding member of NATO, stressing that its “strategic location in the Atlantic helps to bind Europe and North America together.”
Mr. Stoltenberg praised Iceland’s civilian contributions to NATO missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, as well as the country’s leadership on the Women, Peace and Security agenda. Iceland also helped host exercise Trident Juncture 2018, NATO’s largest exercise in decades.
The Secretary General and Prime Minister Jakobsdóttir also discussed current security issues, including Russia’s breach of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, NATO’s adaptation to hybrid and cyber threats, and the situation in the High North.
Earlier, Mr. Stoltenberg visited Keflavik air base from where air and maritime surveillance flights help keep Iceland, the Atlantic, and the High North secure. He also met the crews of the U.S. 6th Fleet’s P-8A anti-submarine warfare aircraft operating out of Keflavik.
The Secretary General also met with Iceland’s Foreign Minister Gudlaugur Thór Thórdarson, the National Security Council, and the Chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee, Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir. He is also delivering a speech at the Nordic House in Reykjavik entitled: “70 years of NATO and Iceland: A strong transatlantic bond in an uncertain world”.
