Public opening remarks the President of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar - Kitarović

Thank you, Mister President.

General Pavel, members of the NATO Military Committee.

First of all, again a warm welcome to Split, to Croatia. I hope that your visit so far has been a pleasant one and I know we are looking forward today to a very fruitful day of constructive discussions and on following up on the Warsaw and Wales Summits Commitments.

There is a lot of work ahead of us but let me first use this opportunity to thank all of you, to thank all of your men and women in uniform for their commitment to the Alliance, for defending the Alliance

In Warsaw, the Heads of State and Government of NATO have provided you with tasks and guidance to continue the tremendous work our Alliance has achieved during the last two years.

In Wales, we gave the initial guidance in an impressive show of unity among Allies and we managed to maintain the momentum to Warsaw.

Now it is your task to take us one step further in facing the challenges ahead of us. And those challenges are many.

A Europe, whole, free and at peace has not been achieved yet. We face an arc of instability ranging from the most northern borders of our Alliance to the South where the MENA region is in widespread turmoil.

The answer on how to confront these challenges can fit into a single word which encompasses the most fundamental principle and value of NATO and that is: solidarity. And with that let me open officially the NATO Military Committee Conference 2016.

Thank you again all for coming here and kindly ask the media to leave the room as we have a short technical break.

Thank you.