Thank you, Chair, Admiral!
General Grynkewich and Admiral Vandier!
Distinguished members of the Military Committee!
It is my real pleasure to welcome all of you here in Latvia for your NATO’s Military Committee Conference.
This is actually the first meeting of senior NATO military leadership after the NATO Summit in the Hague. It was a decisive shift in Alliance’s resolve to make NATO stronger. To make the Alliance more capable and more lethal by investing 5% of GDP in defence. At that Summit we all reaffirmed our commitment to NATO. To the strongest Alliance in history and also we reaffirmed our commitment to the transatlantic bond.
But I am sure that we all acknowledge that this is also a test case for Europe’s ability to step up. For Allies each individually and Europe as a whole to shoulder a fair share of defence expenditure.
I think that we can all say that it is in our interests to fill NATO’s new generation of defence plans with the required forces and capabilities.
As I said yesterday when I was hosting you at the Riga castle. And I want to repeat that here today. It is not so much about excel sheets. Its not political slogans. But it is about real capabilities that each and every army, each and every navy, each and every air force need currently to counter all the emerging threats and also traditional threats.
From our perspective the threat assessment is clear – Russia poses a long-term threat to Euro-Atlantic security. Terrorism remains a persistent threat. Europe and the Alliance is being tested in every way possible.
So that the task is to equip our forces for the threats and challenges of today and those of tomorrow. And we must do that across all domains. To uphold the fast technological advances and to mobilize our defence industries. And we also know that the best way to defend our countries is a deterrence. But that deterrence must work.
Admirals, Generals!
You can be assured Latvia continues to invest all efforts in our own defence capability development. We are committed to invest 5% of GDP in defence already very soon.
As a direct neighbour to Russia and Belarus, we know our responsibility to strengthen the external border of NATO and the EU. This includes countering the daily illegal migration pressure as part of Russia’s and Belorussian hybrid tactics. That has amounted already to more than ten thousand deterred migrants on our border this year alone. Baltic Defence Line is aimed at enhancing the military infrastructure along the three Baltic States.
We are advancing our host nation support for Allied troops. I just want to express our profound gratitude to all Allies present with their forces and capabilities in the Multinational Division North, and NATO Multinational Brigade in Latvia under the very capable leadership of Canada. Brigade has become fully operational and combat ready.
Let me also say that another mission that NATO has launched – the Baltic Sentry – has proved its effectiveness in constraining Russia’s shadow fleet activities.
Chair, Commanders, members of the Military Committee!
The immediate priority today is clearly air defence.
As Admiral already noted, Russia continues a pattern of provocations. Most recently recklessly violating the airspace of Poland and Estonia. And here I really want to thank and welcome NATO immediate response commencing Eastern Sentry. This serves as a tangible example of NATO’s decisive response.
The intensity of Russia's drone attacks against Ukraine has created incidents in several Allied countries, among them also here in Latvia. This is the reality we face. This is to some extent not any more even new reality. The response should continue to be robust. Transforming Baltic Air policing to a Baltic Air Defence Mission with respective rules of engagement should be a priority.
In addition, ensuring we collectively make the best use of technological advancements to counter drone systems. There is actually a lot we can learn from Ukraine in this regard.
Building our own defence capabilities goes hand in hand with our continued support for Ukraine. Our military support for Ukraine is 0.25% of GDP per year. We have added to this a further commitment of 5 million EUR to NATO’s new Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative to buy weapons from US for Ukraine. We should all do our utmost to help Ukraine.
To conclude, let me underscore the resolve and unity of NATO as our stronghold. Russia should be in no doubt, that NATO and Allies will employ, in accordance with international law, all necessary military and non-military tools to defend ourselves and deter all threats from all directions. A clear deterrence message to Russia and reassurance to our own societies!
Thank you!
