Editing Office - Geneva

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stressed the importance of strong transatlantic cooperation and institutions at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday (24 January 2019). The Secretary General took part in a panel session on the ‘Future of the Transatlantic Alliance’, together with German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, former US Secretary of State John Kerry and Professor Kishore Mahbubani of the National University of Singapore.

Mr. Stoltenberg stressed that Europe and North America have stood shoulder-to-shoulder in NATO for over 70 years, protecting common interests and values. The Secretary General noted that Europe and North America are doing more together – modernising the NATO Command Structure, strengthening NATO’s cyber defences and investing more in collective defence. Since 2016, the Secretary General said, European Allies and Canada have spent an extra 41 billion dollars in real terms. Mr. Stoltenberg announced that by 2020, this figure is expected to increase to 100 billion dollars. “Based on the national plans coming in from all the Allies, they will add $100 billion by the end of next year,” he said. The Secretary General added that NATO Allies have also demonstrated unity on arms control, speaking with one voice on Russia’s violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Allies have called on Russia to return urgently to full and verifiable compliance with the Treaty. During his visit to Davos, the Secretary General also held bilateral talks with NATO Allies and partners, including Polish President Andrzej Duda, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen, and the Chairwoman of the CDU Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.