Category: Europe

The Secretary General welcomed Luxembourg’s commitment to increased defence spending and thanked the Prime Minister for his “commitment to have a concrete plan to reach 2% by the Washington Summit,” adding “this is key for a fair burden-sharing on both sides of the Atlantic”. Mr Stoltenberg also welcomed Luxembourg’s participation in NATO’s Innovation Fund and investments in NATO’s high-end capabilities, including the next generation of NATO’s AWACS early warning and surveillance aircraft. “This is one of NATO’s biggest-ever joint capability purchases,” he said and added that Luxembourg is at the forefront of NATO’s technological and innovation agenda.

Luxembourg is one of 20 Allies participating in a coalition aimed to strengthen Ukraine’s air defences. “This will help protect Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield. And protect people’s lives in Ukrainian cities,” said the Secretary General. Luxembourg also supports Ukraine through NATO’s Comprehensive Assistance Package.

In November, the NATO-Ukraine Council met at the level of Foreign Ministers in Brussels, where Allies agreed an ambitious work programme that will bring Ukraine closer to NATO. “Stepping up and sustaining our support is critical to help Ukraine weather the difficult winter ahead, and to ensure Ukraine prevails as a sovereign independent nation. This is the right thing to do. It is also in our own security interest,” Mr Stoltenberg concluded.

The Deputy Secretary General stressed the importance of the NATO-Georgia political dialogue and practical cooperation, including the NATO-Georgia Commission and the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package designed to strengthen Georgia’s ability to defend itself and advance its preparation for membership. He underscored the importance of Georgia’s continued efforts towards comprehensive reforms. “Allied Leaders adopted a clear message, when they met in Vilnius last summer: to advance its Euro-Atlantic aspirations, Georgia must make progress on reforms, including democratic reforms, and make the best use of the Annual National Programme.”

The Deputy Secretary General expressed his appreciation for Georgia’s substantial contributions to NATO, including its “very significant troop contributions, and for the participation of boarding teams of the Georgian Coast Guard in Operation Sea Guardian.” Mr Geoană also welcomed Georgia’s recent progress on its Euro-Atlantic path. “I want to congratulate you on the European Commission’s recommendation to grant Georgia the status of a candidate country. This is a momentous development,” he said.

Mr Papuashvili was accompanied by the Chairman of the Defence and Security Committee of Georgia’s Parliament, Irakli Beraia, the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Nikoloz Samkharadze, and Ketevan Turazashvili, an opposition Member of Parliament from the Political Group “Citizens’.

The Secretary General and Minister Umerov discussed the latest battlefield developments and Ukraine’s urgent military needs. With winter expected to complicate fighting, Mr Stoltenberg stressed that Allies are committed to stepping up political and practical support to Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s invasion. The Secretary General reiterated that NATO will provide long-term support to Ukraine to make Ukraine’s forces fully interoperable within NATO and bring them even closer to the Alliance.
 
Secretary General Stoltenberg and Minister Umerov also discussed Ukraine’s path to NATO membership and Ukraine’s reform efforts. Mr Stoltenberg reiterated that Ukraine will become a member of NATO when all Allies agree and when conditions are met. 
 
Monday’s talks follow a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council at Foreign Ministers level last Wednesday (29 November 2023). Mr Stoltenberg previously met Minister Umerov in Kyiv in September, and during the meeting of NATO Defence Ministers in October.

Exercise Cyber Coalition is NATO’s flagship cyber exercise and one of the largest in the world. This year’s edition brought together more than 1,300 cyber defenders from 28 NATO Allies and 7 partner countries, as well as the European Union and participants from industry and academia. This year’s exercise took place in Tallinn, Estonia, as well as remotely, in national capitals and other locations.

“Cyber Coalition is unique because it is the only cyber exercise in NATO that is not a competition. We all work together as a family of cyber defenders. This collaboration is what makes us stronger and more resilient to cyber threats. This year, the cooperation between all participants has been exceptional” said Commander Charles Elliott (US Navy), Exercise Director.

The Cyber Coalition 2023 scenario is based on real-life cyber challenges, including attacks on critical infrastructure such as electrical substations, energy grids and water treatment plants, as well as the disruption of NATO and Allied assets while in operations. The aim is to enhance NATO’s, Allies’ and partners’ resilience to cyber threats and their ability to conduct cyber operations together.

Cyber Coalition is also a perfect venue for cyberspace experimentation, supporting NATO’s capability development and transformation in the cyber domain. During Cyber Coalition 23, NATO’s Allied Command Transformation spearheaded three experimentations to improve cyber awareness, information sharing and automated data exploitation, and enhance the protection of military missions against cyber-attacks.

The 28 participating Allies were: Albania, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Türkyie, United Kingdom, United States.

The 7 participating NATO partner countries were: Georgia, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine