Deputy Secretary General previews NATO Summit at Wroclaw Global Forum
NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow previewed the agenda of the NATO Summit in Warsaw, outlined the next steps in the Alliance’s adaptation and discussed NATO’s future at the Wrocław Global Forum on Friday (3 June 2016).
“The Warsaw Summit is shaping up as one of the most consequential in NATO’s history. We have to step up to meet security challenges from the East and the South,” Ambassador Vershbow said in front of an audience of policy-makers and entrepreneurs. “To respond, NATO has to be a full-spectrum alliance more than ever before. We have a 360-degree approach”, he said.
He elaborated on NATO’s plans for the Warsaw Summit: from strengthening defence and deterrence, through projecting stability by working with partners, to sharpening the Alliance’s toolbox to deal with hybrid threats. He pointed at cooperation between NATO and the European Union as an area where the Summit will deliver a substantial step ahead. “Because none of us alone has all the tools to tackle the complex challenges we face,” Ambassador Vershbow explained.
“At Warsaw, you will see a strong display of Alliance unity and a commitment to concrete steps to strengthen the security of our 28 Allies and the partners along our periphery,” Ambassador Vershbow concluded.
He participated in a panel on NATO’s Future and the Warsaw Summit, alongside other high-level speakers from Poland and the US. Poland’s Secretary of State and Head of the National Security Bureau Paweł Soloch presented the views of the host nation ahead of the Warsaw Summit. US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller, Deputy Commanding General of the 4th Infantry Division of the US Army Brig. General James J. Mingus and The Hon. Joe Manchin of the US Senate spoke about the US commitment to transatlantic security and presented their own analysis of the security challenges that NATO has to tackle.
Defence expenditure, cooperation with partners, the need for transparency and predictability in military relations and Russia’s more assertive behavior were among the issues raised at the panel.
The Wrocław Global Forum is a leading transatlantic conference in Poland, which brings together leading figures from government, business, media and civil society.