Years. From the Atlantic Council and the thi German Marshal Fund of e United States, this is 40 minutes. It is wonderful to have this opportunity to discuss natos reflection process with secretary general, at the time where we are facing a widerer challenges. For russia and china, tod to cyberattacks, Climate Change and the pandemic. What are the changes we need toe make today to ensure that nato relevant and effectivese queste over the coming decade and inars fr 2030 . To answer these questions, we, y will begin with framing the marks from the nato secretary general. Then nadia who works with gm f alliance with curing democracy will moderate a conversation with the secretary general. She will start with fred and me and then take questions from you. Fred will then close us out. Now, a word about an in stoltenberg, secretary general of nato. At a time when citizens and no nato countries are looking for leadership, they need look no further than nato headquarters, whereples secretary general stoltenberg is providing strong, principled and decisive leadership. It is my sincere pleasure to welcome mr. Stoltenberg, secretary general to the stage, mister secretary general, over to you. Good afternoon from brussels. Good morning to karen and fred in washington. Embewelcome to all who areger. Following us live. Last december, nato leaders asked me to make a strongmilitaa Alliance Even stronger. By making sure we are asto t effective politically as we are militarily. That we remain ready today to tackle the challenges of tomorrow. Now this is an opportunity to reflect on where we see our alliance ten years from now. And how it will continue to keep a safe in the more uncertain roles. Today, im happy to launch my reflection of nato 2030. Covid19 has changed our livesct inio ways we could barelyould bn imagine. Has magnified existing trends when it comes to our security. Russia continues its military activities unabated. Iceland and other isis and disinfor other terrorist groups are emboldened. Both state and non state actors glob promote this information and proxy propaganda. The rise of china is fundamentally shifting the global balance of power. Heating up the race for economic and technological supremacy, multiplying to open societies and individual freedoms an increase in the competition over our n valuesew n and our way of life. Nato 2030 is about how we adapt to this new normal. To do this, we must stay strong militarily. We must be more united politically. And take a broader approach globally. First, we need a Strong Military alliance to protect our democracies and to continue towe a compete in the more competitive world. E lothreats to our security inue when we are focusing on the pandemic. Justes amili the opposite. Bilias to 2030, we must continuo 70 yea invest in our armed forces and military capabilities. Is ththey have kept a safe forr future 70 years as they continue to do but mi today. Strensecurity is the foundatior our prosperity now and in the future. Wemilitary strength is only part of the answer. S ta we also need to use nato morean politically. This means fger bringing all the issues that affect our security to natos table. So that we can forge stronger consensus sooner and more systematically. Ty con from conflicts in the wider using natoegion to global arms control and the security consequences of Climate Change. Y using nato more politically also means using a broader range of tools. S esmilitary and nonmilitary. Economic and diplomatic. D outhis is especially importanw we work together, to strengthen thelnerab resilience of our socs and our economies and to ensure that we dodo not import vulnerabilities into ournato man critical infrastructures, industries and supply chains. Nato may not always be on the front line to act but it must always be a frank discussion and genuine consultation. That brings europe and northace america together every day. We have the structures and the institutions in place. What we need is the political will to use nato, to decide and when necessary, to act for our shared security. Finally, in a world of great global competition, where we see china coming closer to us from the arctic to saga cyberspace, natal needs a more global approach. This is not about a global presence, but about a global approach. Nato brings together 30 alliesi on both sides of the atlantic. Almost one billion people, half of the nee worlds military and economic ly w network of global partners. Ikeas we look to 2030, we need o work even more closely with likeminded countries like australia, japan, new zealand, south korea. To defend the global rules and institutions that have kept a safe for, on decades. L arto set norms and standards s space and intand cyberspace. On a new technologies and global arms control. Ultimately, to stand up for the world build on freedom and democracy. Not on bullying and coercion. The challenges that we face over the next decade are greater than anyone can tackle alone. Neither europe alone, nor america alone. So we must resist thevalues, fr, temptation of national solutions. I must live up to our values. Freedom, democracy and the rule of law. These values are what defines us. Theynati are what makes a strons nations, and as an alliance. As we continue to compete in a more not competitive world, we t keep our democracies strong. My vision for nato 2030 is not about reinventing nato. It is about making a strong Alliance Even stronger. Strong militarily, Stronger Politically and more global. To help us get there, iveac askedti groups of experts to provide newiety ideas. A ndi will continue to consult actively with allies and i will reach out to civil society, the private sector, as we are doing here today. My recommendations will informoo the direction need to leaders set out when we need next year. Meet next year. Together, we can look to nato 2030 with confidence. Together, we will keep our people safe in a more uncertain world. Thank you. Cret khoury cal thank you very much, secretary general for your remarks and sharing with us your vision and reflection for nato nine 2030. It is my great pleasure to be leading the conversation with you today. We will turn back d. C to washinn d. C. For the first two questions. Karin wulf, the floor is yours. Mister secretary general,ntiu what a terrific set of framing remarks. You mentioned that your goal in this reflection process is not f about reinventing nato, butti about makingonsh nato stronger d more durable. I wanta star to draw you out ont that means in terms of natos relationship with china. We have seen a stark deterioration, certainly in the u. S. China relationship. From where you sit and brussels . Does nato see china as the new enemy . Thank you. No. T hanato does not see china as tho newbal enemy or an adversary. What we do see is that the rise of chinaato is fundamentally changing the global balance of power. Nato leaders, heads of states need of histt in london and december, they for the first timenato h in natos history, ad that nato has to envy vest the securityecon consequences of the rise of china. The Economic Growth of china has fueled Economic Growth it has helped to raise people out of poverty. At the the same time, we see tht the fact that china soon will ho have the biggest economy in thes world. T buckthey already have the secd largest defense budget. They are investing heavily in modern military equipment. They are coming closer to us th and cyberspace cyberspace, africa, criticalall of this infrastructure. Theyre workingty more and more together with russia. All of this has security respond consequences for balance. We need to be able toddress resd to that, address it, and we need to doo that by forging nato as a Stronger Political arms and do it by working together with partners, not least in the. Asiapacific including australia, japan, south korea, new zealand which are very close partners to nato. This was in a message coming from the leaders last december,. And now we are following up onih that when we now address nato 2030. Very important. The second question. Thank you very much. Stronger militarily, politically and more global. Mister secretary general, that is such an Important Message and this reflection process is historically significant. As a follower of nato for many years, you seem to be pointing a little bit to what people are calling article two. One of the language, pieces of languages they will seek to eliminate conflict them encourage economic collaboration and any or all of them. Most people do not know whats in the needle chart. My question running off of this how important is this and you did not explicitly mention thewould European Union and yor vision for the future of nato, but this new direction wouldy suggestand a closer collaboratin with the European Union. Nato is a military and Political Alliance. You areght, right, sometimes i l likeeim we often forget the importanceprot of the political aspect. Nato is about protecting eachcoi other. Article se, five. E collective defense. Poit is also about working together in a Political Alliance addressing for instance,e,so the importance of article three. Many relevant articles. An article two and three is nonmilitary means of security of maintaining our security and peace. Covid19 has clearly demonstrated the importance ofan addressing those nonmilitary challenges and the role nato can play in helping the society and dealing with that. European union. And i strongly believe and and cooperation between the European Union and nato. I very much welcome that we have been able to list als corporation. Between nato and the European Union and unprecedented levels. We will continue to do that. We welcome the efforts on defense from the eu. Almat the same time, you cannoo replace nato. We have to remember that almost. 60 of the People Living in a nato country, they live in aato non eu state. 80 of natos defensive expenditure is coming from non eu members,. And we have to be ablees no to protect 100 percenf ourher people. Compthere is no way that eu can replace nato, but as long as we workecei together in a good waye can complement each other. Talking about complementing each th youother, i am pleased e receiving questions from other viewers on social media. Dfirst question. E edfrom jake. A 16 year old from the editorial team. O we receivedf the question over email. About the future of nato. R queswe speak about the futuref all generation. Nd the young the question relates to that. Where do i tyoung people fit io nato both now and in the future . I think the most fundamental answer to that question is that piece matters, especially for young people. It is only by providing freedom and peace peace that youngt isse people can decide themselves what kind of life they would like to live. Job, education, but also other important issues we are facedso with. Like Climate Change. The fight against racism. Without peace, we will fail in all those efforts. Peace and freedom is so fundamental for everything elsea that we do. I lr am not young, but even i te peace for granted. Because piece has been normal established nd north american europe since weve established nato for more than 17 years. Eurpeace has not been a normal thing in europe. St iin europe, nato allies were ravaged by war for centuries. The most important thing to young tha people is to make sure they can con take piece as grand as i have been able to take. The only way to make sure that happens is to continue to haveve nato as preserve peace and freedom. Thank you very much. Second question i would like to race with you is from barry. Journalist and pr who also shared the question over email. Considering the Current Events and developments, what is happening with the troops in germany, her question is, how do you. S. Comment on u. S. Media reports that the u. S. Is planning i to withdraw almost 10,000 troops from germany . I can never comment on media leakages and speculation. What i can say is that we are constantly consulting with the United States, with all the nato in allies on the military posture and presence in europe. Of course, after the end of the cold war we saw the u. S. Abusing its military presence in europe. For the last few years, we have seen this is not only about germany,s but we have seen for instancevet the u. S. Brigade. Olan we have seen more rotational presence. We have seen u. S. Taking a lead function in the nato battlebased group and poland. Moreof military pressure usen forces inthe other countries, romania including with a baseba, for missile defense. And of course we see navalu. S. I presence and the spanish investing inry norway we see more u. S. Presence. In the last years, we are seeing more u. S. Presence,xerci. Including investing and equipment and exercises. Nato presents s. A the first time we had a u. S. Exerci Aircraft Carrier to do an pres exercise just a few weeks ago. We hadlies significant u. S. We presence. Oitheng thing is that european allies with the United States we are more together now than we have done for many years. Ef lei think it reflects that we aa strengthened in the military equationon and nato over the lat years. We will give an opportunity two of our viewers to ask you i questions directly over zoom. Victthe first question you will hear will be from victoria. I am very delighted toone. Participate in this event with mr. Stoltenberg. Much for youre care remarks which i find very important. One of have to take get care of peace d we should not take it for granted. This is one of the most important a ndthings. I will get back to question and i am here representing or being the alumni of gm cmf program. This question is also coming this is a great opportunity. First of all, we have to acknowledge that the a trend whi spontaneous Global Crisis provoked by covid19 pandemics has enforced a trend which waso gaining moreyo and more ground, that is National Versus collective. As a result, how do you see the Security Architecture developingof t in a way that it meets the individual and collective needs of the countrys, both members of nato, the alliance, but also partners, and how do we keep in the seen as one s our collective values alive, as they are still seen as one of the main promises for peace . Thank you. In uncertain t i strongly beln uncertain times, we need strong multilateral institutions, and nato is one of the biggest, most Important National institutions we have established. Orta we saw nato emerge out of theist Second World War and all theunt. Institutions established to prevent war from ever again affecting the people in thed i l allied countries. I strongly believe that if theres anything we could learn, from the crisis that has is that when we are faced withh uncertainty, strong internationalit institution. This is going to strengthenstret institutions, unilateral corporations, including launcheh nato thening nato, which is exactly why we have launched is changinto make sure that we change, adapt as the role is changing. In, again, since we see that the global balance of power isand co shifting, the rise of china and compared to china, even in the United States is not the n biggest one,ow soon china will have the biggest economy in the world. They are leadingchinave and ing inin intelligence. Including and computing and so on. Er, it is more important that we stand together. North america and europe when together. Cannot manage this alone. We need to do this together. My main thing is that when things are difficult, then it is even more important that we stand together with northve the america and europe together. Thank you. Thank you very much. Before we come back to the social Media Questions we have a second question over zoom. Rachel. Over to you rachel. Yes, hello secretary general and thank you so much for yourdl leadership and these very turbulent times. You already mentioned that nato is exquisitely expected to do a nonmilitary challenge like this information, cyber, energy and e climate, and that nato does not necessarily hold in addition to the partnerships that nato has with other countries fortner example and in the asiapacific, how can nato update and possibly expand its private Partnerships Network to make sure it has the right partners to tackle these challenges . S, howive been thinking along e lines of private sector partners, other International Tf organizations. How can you expand that thank you. Lf o thetary strength of natot not only do we represent 30 members, close to one billion people, half of the worlds military might and economic mightre als through the 30 membf nato, wor but we are also workig with 40 different partners around the world and we are working with all these nationalt institutions. Again, we are in a world where s be things are constantly changing. The importance of working together with partners has become even more critical for nato. That is the reason why we are focusing on that, and again the purpose of nato 2030 is to see how we can further strengthen partnerships and and addressing not least different nonmilitary threats we have seen in cyber, you ment. Disinformation propaganda, as you mentioned. I strongly believe that the best answer to profit down that is not propaganda. I believe that the truth will prevail. Facts, the truth is the best way to counter propaganda and disinformation. The aim of propaganda andto co disinformation which is connected to covid19 is to undermine trust in our democratic institution. To divide allies and abuse our ability to work together. The best way to come against propaganda and disinformation is to bring facts and truth. Inde the best way to do that is to have a free and independent the ne press. Journalists way asking difficult disinfor questions. Snchecking the facts. Checking the stories. That is the best way to make it sure that propaganda and disinf disinformation does not succeed. I would like to follow up on thisgl question