We are funded by these companies, and morecambe including sparklight. The greatest town on earth is the place you call home. It is our home, too. Now we are facing our greatest challenge. That is why we are working to keep you connected. We i doing our part so it is easier to do yours. Announcer sparklight supports cspan, along with other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. The secretary general of nato held a News Conference ahead of the nato summit in lithuania. He answered questions about negotiations with turkey, about sweden coming into the alliance. He says he and other nato leaders are still planning for sweden to join. His remarks are about 40 minutes. Good afternoon. The secretarygeneral will preview the Vilnius Summit, then take your questions. Sick attorney general . Secretarygeneral . Sec. Gen. Stoltenberg good afternoon. Nato heads of state and government will meet in vilnius next week, at a critical moment for our transatlantic security. Russias war of aggression against ukraine continues to rage on. For 500 days, moscow has brought death and destruction to the heart of europe, seeking to destroy ukraine and divide nato. Our summit will send a clear message. Nato stands united. And russias aggression will not pay. At the summit, we will make ukraine even more stronger, and set out a vision for its future. I expect allied leaders will agree a package with three elements, to bring ukraine closer to nato. First, we will agree a Multiyear Programme of assistance. To ensure full interoperability between the Ukrainian Armed forces and nato. Second, we will upgrade our political ties by establishing the natoukraine council. And third, i expect allied leaders will reaffirm that ukraine will become a member of nato. And unite on how to bring ukraine closer to its goal. Allies have already pledged 500 Million Euros for critical needs, including fuel, medical supplies, demining equipment and pontoon bridges. We will also help build ukraines security and defence sector, including with military hospitals. And we will help ukraine transition from sovietera to nato equipment and standards. President zelenskyy will join us for the inaugural meeting of the new natoukraine council. This will be a platform for crisis consultation and decisionmaking. Where we all sit as equals to address shared security concerns. At the summit, we will take further major steps to strengthen our deterrence and defense. With three new Regional Defense plans to counter the two main threats to our alliance, russia and terrorism. One plan for the north, the atlantic and european arctic. One for the center covering the , baltic region and central europe. And a southern plan for the mediterranean and black sea. To execute these plans, nato is putting 300,000 troops on higher readiness. Including substantial air and naval combat power. I expect leaders will endorse a defense production action plan to aggregate demand, boost capacity, and increase interoperability. To do all of this, we need to invest more. At the summit, allies will set a more ambitious defence defense investment pledge to invest a minimum of 2 of Gross Domestic Product annually on defense. Today, we are releasing new defense spending estimates. In 2023, there will be a real increase of 8. 3 across european allies and canada. This is the biggest increase in decades. And the ninth Consecutive Year of increases in our defence nse spending. So european allies and canada will have invested over 450 billion extra since we agreed our defense investment pledge in 2014. Then, only three allies spent 2 of gdp on defense. This year, 11 allies will reach or exceed the target. We expect this number will rise substantially next year. At the summit, we will be joined by the leaders of australia, new zealand, japan and south korea. Because our security is not regional, it is global. We are working more closely on issues such as cybersecurity, Maritime Security and new technologies. We will also welcome the European Union to vilnius. Our partnership has reached unprecedented levels, and we are committed to doing even more together. This will be finlands first summit as a nato ally. And we look forward to sweden joining as soon as possible. Yesterday, i hosted a constructive meeting of senior officials from turkey, sweden and finland. And as the next step, i will meet with president erdogan and Prime Minister kristersson in vilnius on monday afternoon. For almost 75 years, nato has been the strongest alliance in history. The decisions we will take at the Vilnius Summit will ensure we continue to protect our people and our values. With that, im ready to take your questions. We will start with lithuanian television. National radio and television, think you for the opportunity. The first question is ukraine is the 2008 bucharest declaration a mistake, how will this new declaration be different . In 2008 it was said that ukraine would become a nato member and it seems like you were going to do this in 2023, so what is the difference . And have you heard something from president zelenskyy, will he participate in the summit . Thank you. Sec. Gen. Stoltenberg there are many differences. One important difference is ukraine has come much closer to nato because nato allies have been working closely with ukraine for many years, especially since 2014. So this as an insured a much higher level of cooperation and interoperability between ukraine and nato. And, we will also i expect also the leaders, when we meet, we will agree on a package that will move ukraine even closer to nato. Partly establishing the Nato Ukraine Council, which is a political platform where we can have crisis consultation and also actually make decisions together and deepen our political cooperation. The practical support, not least of the multitier program, also has a political dimension because by agreeing to standby ukraine and help them for a longerterm, and to ensure full interoperability with nato, we are helping ukraine to come even closer to nato. And nato membership. And then finally, i am confident that we will find the united way also to address the specific issue on membership, but i will not go into the details of the exact language now because it is something that we will announce when everything is in place for the summit. I look forward to welcoming president zelenskyy at the summit. And to have him taking part in the first or inaugural meeting of the Nato Ukraine Council. Thank you. Florian from city tv. What about sending cluster munitions to ukraine, which are banned by more than 120 states. Do you think this is a good idea and does ukraine need such munitions . From a political point of view do you think it is wise to send munitions banned for good reasons . Sec. Gen. Stoltenberg nato as an alliance does not have a position on the convention on class termination because a number of allies have assigned a convention, but a number of allies have not signed the convention. And its for individual allies to make decisions on the delivery of weapons and military supplies to ukraine. And so this will be for governments to decide, not for nato as an alliance. We are faced with a brutal war. And we have to remember that this brutality is also reflecting the fact that we everyday see casualties. And that cluster munitions is used by both sides, or they are used by both sides. And russia used close terminations in their brutal war of aggression to invade another country, while ukraine is using it to defend itself. The best way to end this brutal war is for president putin and russia to stop attacking another country. Thats the best way to stop although casualties, and that is the best way to stop the casualties and deaths on the battlefield that we see everyday. Secretarygeneral, ntv from turkey. At the meeting regarding sweden, what about the icebreaker between the turkeys side and it sweden, you said it was constructive. However, talking to the turkish minister of Foreign Affairs and his swedish counterpart, there are still gaps. So how are you able to bridge the gap until next monday, and what kind of pressure, because you also what kind of pressure can you put on sweden so that they somehow tried to release the concerns of turkey . Thank you very much. Sec. Gen. Stoltenberg for me, i think that it works that words like constructive and good describing icebreaker, if i had to describe the meeting. It was a constructive meeting and we made progress. And i am confident that we will continue to make progress, but there are still gaps to be bridged. That is also the reason why i have invited president erdogan and Prime Minister and the swedish Prime Minister to meet on monday. In a few days in vilnius, lithuania. And at the three of us will meet together, with our experts, and we will sit down and look at the details to create and where we see differences and adopt ways to overcome these differences when they exist, as they now do before the final ratification of swedish accession into nato. My message is that sweden has delivered. At that same time on the commitment they made in madrid in the joint memorandum. At the same time, i am also very clear that turkey has a Real Security concern. That is why we are sitting down and addressing them. Because we also know that nato allies have a serious security concern related to the fact they want sweden as a full member as soon as possible. That is the case for the baltic countries you see in advantage in have been sweden on the allies side. It will be good for sweden and it will be good for the baltic region, the Nordic Region and good for turkey to have sweden as a member as soon as possible. Thank you. Irena summer, ukrainian news agency. I have a followup question regarding the declaration. I understand you cannot comment on the language in the declaration regarding membership but can you tell us how far or how close the alliance is regarding wording the declaration with the possible membership of ukraine . And will be satisfactory for kyiv . Sec. Gen. Stoltenberg we are, as always, now consulting into working on the exact language, that is the way nato makes decisions we are 31 allies. And having close contact with ukraine. But the allies are consolidating now on the exact language in the communique, and i am confident that we will find a united way forward, including on how to move ukraine forward on its goal of becoming a member of the alliance. Also, i expect, as i said, that there will be decisions on increased support, practical support, but it has a dimension when it comes to the political aspects because more interoperability, more multi air programs between nato forces in Ukrainian Forces helps ukraine move towards nato. And Stronger Political ties with the nato ukraine counsel is a way to move ukraine and nato even closer. So the language, the exact wording, will be made public when we have agreed and when the statement is endorsed by all leaders next week. But icam i expect we will have a clear message. Not only clear, but most of all we have to remember that the allies have agreed already on an important principle when it comes to ukraine into membership we agreed that the nato door is open and we agree that ukraine will become a member, which is an important message. And then we agreed that for the nato allies and for ukraine to decide when the time is right. And than the most urgent task is that we will stand by ukraine into we will provide support for ukraine for as long as it takes, because unless ukraine wins this war, there is no membership issue to be discussed at all. Thats the reason why the allies are stepping up and providing donations, military support and presented in that way. Bloomberg. Hi, natalia from bloomberg. We continue to hear from ukraine for allies to send more artillery and munitions, are you satisfied with weather allies have sent . Sec. Gen. Stoltenberg nato allies are sending and have sent an unprecedented level of ammunition, different types of ammunition, and they are continuing to make announcements and new donations. All this is coordinated in a good way. And thats the reason why the ukrainians have been able to retake land to the north, east and south. Some weeks ago they were able to launch an offensive, and that is moving forward. They are able to liberate elan. And of course, there is a high rate of consumption of ammunition in the military operations going on now with thousands of shells every day. So there is enormous need to resupply. That is what the allies are doing committed they are resupplying constantly ukraine with more ammunition, spare parts, maintenance for the different artillery systems, armored vehicles, battle tanks, air defenses and so on. And that need will continue to be there, and therefore we need continued support and continued decisionmaking. For the strength in the allied countries to make further decisions on april more support. So, that is yeah. I think that was your question. Now production. On production, well, what we are seeing is that since we started to address this issue of they need to increase our Production Capacity last fall, then things have started to move. So, now more and more allies are actually signing contracts for things that can increase production. Contracts with industry. We engaged with industry at our latest defense minister meeting. And we have also worked on defense production act and plans, which i expect the allied leaders to agree on, on both how to aggregate, how to make sure that we are bringing things together, joint procurement, therefore reducing the cost to utilized in the economy of scale. We have done joint procurement for years. And we have an agency which is not actually facilitating several big projects, also for a battle decisive ammunition. We have increased the guidelines for how much a battle size ammunition, including for instance the 155 ammunition, which is the most commonly used in the world. In ukraine and in the world. We are increasing the guidelines for how much of this type of ammunition allies should have. And we are also strengthening our work to standardize and to ensure that this full interchangeability. Nato is addressing issues, ramping up production in many ways by using tools, setting standards and guidelines. And the allies are now implementing a followup on production. That is what is going on. Greek tv. The lady there. Thank you. Secretarygeneral, you have mentioned that the 2 on defense spending is the floor, not the ceiling. Are the allies closer to reaching a more concrete agreement, a more concrete obligatory agreement on the 2 , on this target . Sec. Gen. Stoltenberg the answer is yes, we have made Good Progress on agreeing on the investment pledge where we regard to percent of gdp for defense, not as a ceiling but as the minimum floor. But as important as that, we are making progress and close to having all the details in place for a new investment pledge. The allies have stepped up to this commitment and it is not only demonstrate it in words, but deeds. The new figures we reached today for the defense investments of 2023 are encouraging, they are positive. And their biggest increase in decades, 8. 3 increase in defense spending for europe and canada. That is adjusted for inflation and a something we have not seen across nato for decades. And it reflects that nato allies are taking this extremely seriously, because to provide support to ukraine, to sign longterm contracts with defense production, with the defense industry, to replenish our stock, to invest in more height and capabilities, there is a need for more money. Now that extra money is coming in. With total of 450 billion since the defense investment pledge and only this year that a. 3 increase. So, that reflects that this is something which is taken extremely seriously by the allies. So of course we still have some way to go. I expect a further increase next year. And we expected this year 11 allies to meet the 2 guideline, which is significantly more than in 2014. At that was a decade pledge. That will run out more end in 2024. Next year, we expect a significantly substantially more allies to meet the 2 target. And move on from there with a new pledge at the summit. Getting back to support to ukraine, two questions. At the first one on the comprehensive action plan. You said allies have pledged 500 Million Euros, is that for one year . And are the allies ready to commit to 500 million on a multiyear basis . The second question on bringing ukraine closer to nato, what would it mean in practical terms if the requirement was dropped map requirement was dropped . Thank you. Sec. Gen. Stoltenberg we are now finalizing the text and the decisions on both of these issues, therefore i am a little bit careful to go into the details. You will see all of the details on both questions you asked within a few days. And, i think that i will only make my task of leading the process and ensure that we end on a strong and united position on these issues more difficult to find now, at this press conference, went into the exact details of the wording and language on the different alternatives which are now being addressed. But i can say that i am confident that when we finalize these consultations and we have the decisions at the summit, we will see a strong commitment from nato allies to provide substantial financial sustained economic support to ukraine, both as nato through the comprehensive assistance package for the different specific purposes like fuel and different types of equipment. But also for the multitier program to ensure that ukraine transitions from soviet era to nato standards. And doctrines with full interoperability. And on the membership action plan, i will not go into the details about the reality is met with all the different programs we have, with the Nato Ukraine Council, and with a Multiyear Program for interoperability, we will move ukraine closer to nato. And therefore help them move on the issue of sending a message on the membership question. Thank you for the opportunity. Secretary general, we have been hearing warring signals from russia and ukraine on the publication of a nuclear plant. With the radioactive cloud affecting nato countries, it could be a trigger for article five has that message been sent to moscow . Sec. Gen. Stoltenberg i think that first of all i