Press statement
by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg following his meeting with the Prime Minister of Poland, Ewa Kopacz
Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz, let me first congratulate you on your new position and underline how much I look forward to working together with you and your government in furthering our collective defence.
As a former Prime Minister, I know myself how many different priorities you have.
But I also know that Poland’s security and defence is an important part of your programme. And so is Poland’s membership of NATO.
From the day it joined, Poland has been a committed and active member of our Alliance.
I am grateful for Poland’s significant contribution to our operations in Afghanistan and Kosovo.
Your contributions to our missile defence system.
And to our collective defence.
I commend Poland’s decision to rapidly and significantly increase its defence spending. To bring it up to the NATO guideline of 2 percent of gross domestic product.
And I appreciate your efforts to modernise your forces.
This is reallyy an excellent example. An example that I can use when I visit other Allies because that should inspire other countries to do the same as you do in Poland.
And it shows that we are taking action to turn the defence pledge made at the Wales Summit into a reality.
At the Wales summit we took important decisions.
These decisions will keep NATO strong. They will help keep our neighbourhood stable by working with our partners. And they will keep the bond between Europe and North America rock solid.
We will maintain a continuous presence in the eastern part of the Alliance.
We will set up a Spearhead Force, so that our troops stand ready to deal with any threats.
And we will ensure that we implement the Readiness Action Plan in full.
We face a dramatically changed security landscape in the East and in the South. These challenges show why we need NATO. Our Alliance remains the bedrock of our security.
NATO’s most important task is to protect and defend our nations against attack. We will defend our Allies. All Allies!
So Prime Minister, Poland stands strong within NATO. And NATO stands strong with Poland.
Thank you for receiving me at this crucial time for the Alliance.