NATO Secretary General with the President of Finland 🇫🇮 Alexander Stubb, 06 JUN 2024

Joint press conference by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg with Alexander Stubb, President of Finland, 6 June 2024.

🗣 | NATO Secretary General:

Thank you so much.
President Stubb, dear Alex,
It's great to see you again.
I also very well remember when we met when you were Foreign Minister.
I was Prime Minister at that time. It was hard of believe that Finland was going to become a member of NATO.
And even harder to believe that you were going to be the President and I was going to be the Secretary General of NATO.
But now we're here together.
So, it's hard to predict the path of two people like you and me. But it's great to be here. And thank you for hosting me and my delegation.

It has been two very interesting days where we have really got a better and deeper understanding of how Finland is really a highly valued and very capable NATO Ally. The membership in NATO makes Finland safer and NATO stronger.

And the briefing today with your Chief of Defence, with your top generals, demonstrates how Finland is an Ally with well-trained and well-equipped, large numbers of forces:
Air, sea, and land.
And also, your deep knowledge of Russia. And of course, the fact that by having Finland as a member, NATO has doubled its border with Russia.

And then you are an Ally that spends 2% of GDP on defence.
So, we really welcome the fact that Finland now is a full member of the Alliance.
And we also welcome the fact that we are moving very well on integrating Finland into all the NATO structures, the NATO defence plans and everything that we do together.

Then, we also welcome the many Finnish contributions to NATO missions and operations.
Just actually this week, you started to do air policing out of Romania.
That's yet another example of how you contribute to our shared security to our collective defence.

And then, Finland plays a key role in providing support to Ukraine.
You have delivered a significant amount of military support.
You have provided around 2 billion euros in military aid.
And as you mentioned, Alex, we will discuss at the NATO Summit and in the preparations for the NATO Summit, how to ensure that we stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes.
Over the last months, we have seen some gaps, some delays in the provision of military support to Ukraine.
We need to ensure that that doesn't happen again.
And that's the reason why we are now working in NATO on how to establish a NATO mission for Ukraine.
And also, how to agree a long-term financial pledge to ensure that Ukraine gets the predictability and accountability they need when it comes to military support from NATO Allies to Ukraine.

And lastly, the stronger our long-term commitment is for Ukraine, the sooner the war can end.
Because then Moscow will understand they cannot wait us out.

So, for all these reasons, we really welcome what you personally do.
What Finland does for the Alliance.
This really helps make the most successful and the strongest Alliance in history even stronger and even more successful.

So, I'm looking forward to continue to work with you and not least to be together with you at the NATO Summit in Washington in July.

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