Secretary General announces first NATO AWACS flight in support of the Counter-ISIL Coalition

Good morning.

It has been just over one hundred days since NATO’s landmark Summit in Warsaw in July.

And in July at the Summit, the Heads of State and Government of NATO took a series of decisions to boost our deterrence and defence and to project stability in our neighbourhood.

Over the next two days, NATO Defence Ministers will take stock of our progress and map out the road ahead.

From early 2017, NATO will have four multinational battalions in the eastern part of the Alliance.

This is credible deterrence.

Not to provoke a conflict, but to prevent conflict.

Concrete proof that NATO can and will deploy thousands of forces to support our Allies. And a clear demonstration of our transatlantic bond.

Tomorrow at our meeting, the framework nations, the nations which are responsible for leading the four different battalions, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom and the United States – will set out their plans for the battalions they will lead.

And other Allies will confirm their contributions. And tomorrow I will be able to tell you more about the contributions from different NATO Allies to the four battalion.

We will also take forward plans to strengthen NATO’s presence in the Black Sea region.

We will assess the infrastructure we need in Allied countries to enable rapid movement of our forces in Europe.

And we will assess the growing role of cyber defence in our operations.

Our second session will be devoted to Projecting Stability in our wider neighbourhood.

Because when our neighbours are more stable, we are more secure.

As part of this effort, NATO is stepping up in the fight against ISIL.

We have already trained hundreds of Iraqi officers in Jordan – in areas including military medicine and defusing improvised explosive devices.

And we will expand our support into Iraq itself in the coming months.

All Allies are members of the Global Coalition fighting ISIL.

The Coalition’s success has been enabled by the ability to work together, developed through decades of NATO missions and NATO exercises.

And NATO itself is now offering direct support with our AWACS surveillance aircraft.

Providing surveillance to improve the Coalition’s air picture.

And making the skies safer.

And I can announce that the first NATO AWACS flight in support of the Coalition fighting ISIL took place last week, on the 20th October.

We are committed to sustaining the Coalition’s momentum.

So that ISIL can be defeated once and for all.

Tomorrow, we will also consider the future of our deployment in the Aegean Sea.

And take decisions on a NATO role in the Central Mediterranean, which could support the EU’s Operation Sophia.

Illustrating how we are strengthening our cooperation with the European Union.

On Thursday, we will meet with EU High Representative Federica Mogherini to discuss how to deepen NATO-EU cooperation.

The relationship between NATO and the European Union has never been closer.

But we want to do even more.

Including on hybrid and cyber defence, maritime security, and exercises.

We have a full agenda ahead of us.

And in an unpredictable world, NATO is adapting for the future with determination and with purpose.

And with that, I’m ready to take your questions.