Category: North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

Mr Stoltenberg welcomed Ukraine’s progress in their counteroffensive, noting that the Ukrainian forces are “gradually gaining ground” and that “they have been able to breach the defensive lines of the Russian forces, and they are moving forward.” He added: “the Russian army used to be the second strongest in the world; and now the Russian army is the second strongest in Ukraine… The reality is that Ukrainians are actually exceeding expectation again and again. And we need to remember what’s our responsibility: our responsibility to support them.” He concluded by saying: “to support Ukraine is not an option. It’s a necessity to ensure that we preserve peace for our members, for our countries and to ensure that authoritarian regimes don’t achieve what they want by violating international law and using military force.”

Mr Stoltenberg also condemned Russia’s decision to withdraw from the Black Sea grain deal and its deliberate attempts to stop Ukraine’s agricultural exports. “We welcome the efforts by Türkiye to re-establish the grain deal,” Mr Stoltenberg said, adding that the best way to ensure safe and secure shipment of grain from Ukraine is for Russia to end its war.

On the NATO-EU relationship, Mr Stoltenberg welcomed that cooperation has deepened in areas including cyber, space, critical infrastructure, military mobility, stability in the Western Balkans, maritime security, and more. “I believe in NATO-EU cooperation, because we share the same values, we share the same challenges. We are two different organizations, but we have a lot in common,” he said.

Mr Geoană also participated in a memorial ceremony at ‘Yad Vashem’, the World Holocaust Remembrance Centre, and visited the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation.

On Friday (8 September 2023), Mr Geoană will meet with Allied Ambassadors to Israel.

“I welcome recent steps taken by Pristina to lower tensions, including reducing the number of special police in the north, and plans to facilitate new municipal elections. But it’s essential to avoid further escalation. So I urge all parties to avoid inflammatory rhetoric, and to act with restraint and in line with their commitments,” the Secretary General said.

Mr Stoltenberg welcomed the next round of the EU-facilitated dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina taking place next week. He said that the dialogue is the “only way to resolve outstanding issues and to reach a solution that respects the rights of all communities. This requires patience, perseverance and compromise,” he added.

In May this year, 93 KFOR troops were injured in unprovoked attacks in northern Kosovo, some seriously, which the Secretary General called “totally unacceptable.” He said: “we expect timely and meaningful consultation on any actions of the Kosovo Security Force or Kosovo Police that could impact the security environment.” Since the unrest, NATO has deployed hundreds of additional troops from its operational reserve force for the Western Balkans to Kosovo. 
 

There will be no media opportunity.

Photographs will be available on the NATO website after the event.
 

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Companies – many of them small start-ups – are competing for hundreds of thousands of euros in grant funds. Applicants will be evaluated by expert panels drawn from across NATO and industry, and DIANA expects to be able to issue the first grants to innovators towards the end of the year. The DIANA team will then work directly with the successful applicants – helping them to test their ideas, secure further funding and get commercial advice to help their businesses grow. 
 
“My team and I are delighted with the overwhelming response and positivity from the Alliance’s  innovators to DIANA’s first three challenges,” said DIANA’s Managing Director, Professor Deeph Chana. “It is testament to the hard work of the DIANA team – of which I’m extremely proud – and the significant talent pool that we know exists within the Alliance.”

Once DIANA is fully operational in 2025, it will run multiple challenges per year on various topics, with the capacity to work with hundreds of innovators each year across its network of accelerator sites and test centres. “The entire team and myself are looking forward to engaging with the successful candidates,” continued Professor Chana. ”We hope to expand on the success of our pilot programme in future years.” 

For more information visit DIANA’s website: www.diana.nato.int