Statement

Thank you so much Mr. President, it’s good to see you again.

And I’m looking forward to celebrate the 70th anniversary of our Alliance together with all the other leaders today and tomorrow.

We are making real progress, most importantly on burden sharing.

And your leadership on defence spending is having a real impact.

Since 2016, Canada and European allies have added 130 billion more to their defence budgets.

And this number will increase to 400 billion US dollars by 2024.

This is unprecedented.

This is making NATO stronger and it shows that this Alliance is adapting, responding when the world is changing.

We will, of course, also address a wide range of other issues including:

the fight against terrorism,

arms control,

our relationship with Russia,

and the rise of China.

NATO is the most successful Alliance in history because we have been able to change when the world is changing. That is exactly what we are doing again. And the fact is that we are doing more together in this Alliance now then we have done in many decades.

So once again, thank you for your leadership and your strong commitment to NATO.