The Minister of National Defence Evangelos Apostolakis attended the Meeting of NATO Ministers of Defence, which took place in Brussels from 26 to 27 June 2019.

            The meeting agenda included:

            – The reinforcement of NATO’s defence and deterrence posture.

            -The Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).

           – The effects of new technologies in defence,

           – The developments in operation Resolute Support Mission (RSM) in Afghanistan.

In his interventions, the Minister of National Defence stressed, among others, that:

– Greece fulfils its obligations to the Alliance both in terms of defence spending levels, as well as at the operational level to reinforce deterrence, with the provision of personnel and assets from all three Services of the Armed Forces, within the framework of the NATO Readiness Initiative (NRI).

– A main requirement for the fulfilment of the Alliance’s goals is to maintain its cohesion, which must be based on compliance with international law and good neighbourly relations.

– It is important for the European security architecture that Russia remains connected to it, complying with the provisions of the INF. Within this framework, a dialogue should be restarted on the future of an effective, functional, and sustainable system to control armaments, disarmament, and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons in Europe, through the NATO-Russia Council and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). These fora provide the opportunity for further promoting peace and security through open and sincere dialogue in Europe.

– The rapid advancement of new state-of-the-art technologies in defence necessitates strict compliance of the force application framework with the provisions of international law.

In the margins of the meeting, the Minister of National Defence discussed with all his counterparts and the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg.