NATO News

NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană and the NATO Chief Scientist Dr Bryan Wells opened the 14th NATO Operations Research and Analysis Conference. The event, organised jointly by the NATO Science and Technology Organization (STO) and Allied Command Transformation (ACT), took place virtually on 5-6 October 2020, and had as its theme Emerging and Disruptive Technology (EDT).

On Thursday, 8 October 2020, the NATO Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Mircea Geoană will speak on the Future of NATO at a seminar organised by Aspen institute, in partnership with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Istituto Affari Internazionali and the Spanish Real Instituto Elcano.

Visiting Athens on Tuesday (6 October 2020), Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias and Defence Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos. In his meetings, the Secretary General addressed the security situation in the region. He praised Greece’s role as a valued Ally and its contributions to NATO missions, from Afghanistan to Kosovo.

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg started a two-day visit to Turkey and Greece on Monday (5 October 2020). While in Ankara, Mr. Stoltenberg had discussions with President Recep Tayyip Erdoǧan, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, and Defence Minister Hulusi Akar about the security situation in the region, NATO’s support for Turkey, and the establishment of a military de-confliction mechanism with Greece.

On Thursday, 8 October 2020, the NATO Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Mircea Geoană will give a keynote speech at the Bucharest Forum conference on “Resilience, Pandenomics and the Great Acceleration” followed by Q&A session.

Addressing an audience of young professionals at the Atlantic Forum’s virtual conference “Transatlanticism 2020” on Friday (2 October 2020), NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană said that in order to deal with an increasingly complex security environment, the Alliance has to continue adapting to future challenges.

On Monday, 5 October 2020, the NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg will travel to Ankara.

On Tuesday, 6 October 2020, the NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg will travel to Athens.

On Wednesday, 7 October 2020, the NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg will meet the President of the Republic of Estonia, Ms. Kersti Kaljulaid at NATO Headquarters.

Following a series of technical meetings between the Military Representatives of Greece and Turkey at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, a bilateral military de-confliction mechanism was established on Thursday (1 October 2020). The mechanism is designed to reduce the risk of incidents and accidents in the Eastern Mediterranean. It includes the creation of a hotline between Greece and Turkey, to facilitate de-confliction at sea or in the air.

The NATO Communications and Information (NCI) Agency announced on Wednesday (30 September) the top eight qualifiers of the 2020 NCI Agency Defence Innovation Challenge.

On 24-26 September, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, visited Vilnius, Lithuania. While in Lithuania, the Chairman met with Lieutenant General Valdemaras Rupsys, Chief of Defence of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, held discussions with senior military representatives of Lithuania, visited the Lithuanian Parliament and met with His Excellency, Mr. Viktoras Pranckietis, Speaker of the Parliament. The Chairman also toured NATO’s Centre of Excellence for Energy Security before receiving a briefing on its latest projects. Topics of discussion during the visit focused on the Deterrence and Defence of the Euro-Atlantic area, fair burden sharing, and increasing NATO and National resilience.

On Wednesday, 7 October 2020, the NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg, will join the Global Security 2020 (GLOBSEC) Bratislava Forum.

On Friday, 2 October 2020, the NATO Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Mircea Geoană will give an online keynote speech at the Atlantic Forum’s conference “Transatlanticism 2020”.

Today (29 September 2020), in an online event marking 70 years of NATO standardization, NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană stressed the importance of standardization for NATO’s cohesion and effectiveness.

Speaking after a meeting with Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Gakharia, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Georgia is one of NATO’s most important partners, contributing to the Alliance’s shared security in many ways, including with troops in NATO’s training mission in Afghanistan. “We can all be proud of what we do together and you can be proud of your contributions to our shared security and contributions to our missions and operations”, he said.

On 28 September 2020, NATO’s Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană, speaking at HumanAIze, an online forum on artificial intelligence (AI) and public-private sector collaboration, said that NATO needs to keep investing in modern technology to deter possible threats in the future. These threats include the misuse and abuse of new technologies, including AI, to destabilise, and to manipulate the free and democratic way of life.

The Secretary General’s Advisory Group on Emerging and Disruptive Technologies held its first meeting with NATO’s Innovation Board on Monday (28 September 2020). The group of 12 external experts presented their recommendations on innovative technologies that NATO should be pursuing as a priority. The experts focused on particular technology areas, such as data as a strategic resource and quantum technologies. The group suggested among others to reconsider how NATO engages with the non-defence private sector and underlined the importance of developing strong ethical principles.

In a keynote speech on Monday (28 September 2020), NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called for the Alliance to take further action to address the threat of climate change. Speaking to students from 10 universities across the Alliance, he said: “NATO’s core task is to keep us all safe. Climate change is making the world more unsafe. So to fulfil our main responsibility, NATO must help to curb climate change.”