NATO Secretary General at Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) conference, 18 APR 2023

Remarks by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the 18th Annual NATO Conference on Arms Control, Disarmament and Weapons of Mass Destruction Non-Proliferation, 18 April 2023.

🗣 | NATO Secretary General:

Thank you so much.
Deputy Secretary Sherman,
Ambassador Jenkins,
Ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you for that kind introduction
I am very pleased to join you today, and to thank you for hosting this important event in Washington.

This is a deeply challenging period - for arms control and for our security in general.
Russia’s war against Ukraine is part of a long pattern of aggressive behaviour.

Russia seeks to undermine the foundations of the international rules-based system.
Ignoring, violating or abandoning much of the network of international arms control agreements that have kept the world safe.
The Kremlin has chosen to dismantle arms control and undermine strategic stability.
By suspending its participation in the New START Treaty.
Failing to comply with the INF Treaty.
Increasing provocative nuclear rhetoric.
And threatening to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

These are irresponsible acts.
Designed to deter NATO Allies from supporting Ukraine.

But they will not work.
Because while we take Russia’s threats seriously, we will not be intimidated.

Russia is the most direct threat to our security.
But the broader global security landscape is also troubling.
China is rapidly growing its nuclear arsenal without any transparency about its capabilities.
Iran and North Korea are blatantly developing their own nuclear programmes and delivery systems.

And new technologies, from Artificial Intelligence to autonomous systems come with great potential risks that need to be understood and managed.

Our world is more dangerous and less predictable than it has been for generations.
And the arms control regimes that we have depended on for so long are unravelling.

But we need to remember that arms control agreements are not made between friends.
They are made between adversaries.
And some of the most successful arms control agreements were reached in periods of heightened tensions.
That is what happened during the Cold War.
And it can happen again now.

So now it’s the time to roll up our sleeves and to do what is needed, to reduce risks, increase our security, and consider how to achieve a more peaceful, stable, and prosperous future.
NATO plays a vital role in this effort.

NATO will remain a nuclear Alliance for as long as nuclear weapons exist.
We will always maintain the appropriate mix of capabilities to ensure our security.

Our Strategic Concept, published last year, emphasises the importance of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation for our deterrence and defence.

So in the short term, we need to bolster existing global arms control regimes.
Principally the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Chemical and Biological Weapons Conventions.
Key pillars of the existing architecture.
And we should push back against efforts that risk undermining the existing non-proliferation framework.
Including the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

We also need to engage with other countries around the world, including those in the global south.
The use of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction fundamentally changes the nature of conflict.
This is something we can all agree on.
It’s a starting point for making progress.

As we look to the future, there are further areas that need our attention.
The rapid spread of new, disruptive technologies demands an entirely new approach.

We cannot simply count and limit the number of algorithms or Artificial Intelligence systems a country has, as we would missiles and warheads.
Ensuring strategic stability in this more complex technological environment will require a different approach.
Through effective confidence-building, transparency, verification and compliance for a new era.
And we need to develop the expertise to understand and to manage these new risks, so different from those faced by previous generations.

We are determined to develop a shared, universal gold standard for the responsible use of new technologies in defence.
At NATO, we have started this process with our Artificial Intelligence Strategy and its principles of responsible use.

Transcript continues: https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/op...
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