NATO Secretary General press conference at Defence Ministers Meeting, 13 FEB 2025

Press conference by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte following the meetings of NATO Ministers of Defence in Brussels, 13 February 2025. 🗣 | NATO Secretary General: Good afternoon, And it has been a very busy 24 hours. A lot has happened. And it was very good to be able to consult among NATO Allies and Ukraine here at NATO. Let me begin by expressing my shock and sadness at the news coming out of Munich, where many people have been injured in what appears to have been a deliberate attack. We stand in solidarity with our Ally Germany and our thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones. Here at NATO, I was glad to welcome the new US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth to NATO for the first time. Secretary Hegseth came with a clear message. Of America’s enduring commitment to a strong NATO Alliance. And of America’s clear expectations for all Allies to carry their fair share of the burden. We also discussed the situation in Ukraine, together with Minister Umerov. All Allies and Ukraine are united in their desire for peace in Ukraine. We all agree that we need to put Ukraine in the best possible position for negotiations. And we need a durable a lasting peace, not a Minsk three. We cannot allow President Putin to win. So, we had an excellent set of discussions focused on the urgent work ahead. When it comes to keeping our deterrence and defence strong, we endorsed robust defence plans drawn up by Supreme Allied Commander, General Cavoli, to protect our one billion people. To ensure we are fully ready to execute these plans also in the future, we need more military capabilities, and for that we need significantly more defence spending. So there is no time to waste. Our continued freedom and prosperity depend on it. Defence spending is already growing. Since 2014, European Allies and Canada have added more than 700 billion additional US dollars for defence. In 2024, NATO Allies in Europe and Canada invested 485 billion US dollars in defence, a 20% increase compared with 2023. With a full two-thirds of Allies spending at least 2% of their GDP on defence. But we need to do more, much more. And we need to do it faster. It is clear from our discussions today that Allies recognise the need to invest much more. Several announced large increases in spending in today’s meeting. And I expect many Ministers to return home from today’s meeting with an even greater sense of urgency. We also discussed the need to ramp up defence production as we ramp up defence spending. Our industry must be able to produce what our extra money allows us to procure. We have already seen a significant increase in defence production across the Alliance in recent years. We are producing more and faster than at any time in decades. But we can and must do more. To ensure the credibility of our deterrence and defence for years to come, we need to shift to a wartime mindset. And we need industry to shift with us. Industry has taken steps to improve production capacity, but they can do better. The demand signals are clear – and they’ll continue to grow. Today, we agreed an updated action plan to rebuild a strong defence industry on both sides of the Atlantic. A robust defence industry will make the Alliance stronger and create more jobs in Europe and North America. Allies also met with Ukraine in the NATO-Ukraine Council, and were joined by the EU High Representative Kaja Kallas. Defence Minister Umerov briefed Allies on the latest developments on the ground. And Allies took note of President Trump’s initiative for peace talks. Which Secretary Hegseth had already outlined in our consultations within the UDCG yesterday afternoon. We discussed the importance of our continued support to Ukraine. Which is crucial so that this brutal war of aggression can come to a just and lasting end. And we discussed the need for European Allies and Canada to do even more. In 2024, NATO Allies provided over 50 billion euros in security assistance to Ukraine – nearly 60% of this coming from Europe and Canada. This is well above the 40 billion that we had pledged for the year. Transcript continues: https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/opinions_232958.htm ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ SUBSCRIBE to this channel https://bit.ly/NATOsubscribe SUBSCRIBE to NATO News https://bit.ly/NATONewsSubscribe SUBSCRIBE to NATO History https://bit.ly/NATOHistorySubscribe Connect with NATO online: Visit the Official NATO Homepage: https://bit.ly/NATOhomepage Receive NATO updates via email: https://bit.ly/NATOemails Find NATO on FACEBOOK: https://bit.ly/NATOfacebook Follow @NATO on X/TWITTER: https://bit.ly/NATOtwitter Follow NATO on Instagram: https://bit.ly/NATOinstagram Find NATO on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/NATOlinkedin Find NATO on Flickr: https://bit.ly/NATOflickr #NATO #OTAN #DefMin