Opening remarks by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission at the level of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs, 4 April 2023.

🗣 | NATO Secretary General:

Welcome to all of you. Before we begin, let me start by welcoming Finland as the newest member of our Alliance.

So, Minister Haavisto, dear Pekka, you have attended many meetings but this is the first time you sit down there, between France and Estonia, and it’s really a great privilege to have you now as a full-fledged member and, as we stated [inaudible] also outside, soon we will also have Sweden as a full-fledged member of our Alliance.

Then, we can turn to the business of today. I am glad to welcome all of you to this meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission. A particular warm welcome to Minister Kuleba. Dmytro, it is good to have you with us today. The Ukrainian people continue to defend their country against the Russian invasion with skill and bravery, and we will continue to support them for as long as it takes. Today’s meeting is an important milestone on the road to the Vilnius Summit. We will discuss what more we can do to ensure Ukraine wins and prevail as a sovereign, independent nation in Europe. NATO Allies all are already providing significant support, but more is urgently needed. We need to deliver on our pledges of training and new heavy weaponry, and continue to ramp up production of weapons and ammunition. We will also discuss strengthening our political and practical support to Ukraine, as well as reforms Ukraine is undertaking to fight corruption, strengthen the rule of law and to protect minority rights.

Dmytro, once again, it is great to have you here. Ukraine’s future is the Euro-Atlantic family, and we will continue to work towards that goal. So then I thank the media for joining us at the start of the meeting, and then we will continue in a moment with the introduction of Minister Kuleba. Thank you.

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