JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL:
Prime Minister Turnbull, it is a great pleasure and honor to welcome you here to the NATO headquarters. And thank you for being here and thank you also for the strong and very productive partnership we have developed over many years between NATO and Australia.
Although Australia is far from here, you are one of NATO’s closest partners. We share the same values: democracy, human rights and the rule of law. By working together, we make a stronger contribution to international security.
And today, we discussed what more we can do together. NATO and Australia stand side-by-side in the fight against terrorism. And I welcome that you are increasing your contributions to NATO’s Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan.
Your highly professional and dedicated forces make a real difference in helping the Afghans bring stability to their country. And we appreciate your substantial funding for Afghan forces: more than $400 million so far. And a pledge that you will continue.
Your strong commitment to Afghanistan makes us all safer and more secure. NATO and Australia are also both members of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. NATO supports the Coalition with training for Iraqi forces. As does Australia.
At our Summit in July, we expect to launch a new training mission in Iraq. This could be another area where NATO and Australia could join forces.
Together, we are committed to upholding the international rules-based order. So besides our practical cooperation, we engage in dialogue on issues such as Russia, North Korea and the Middle East. Our political solidarity is important as we face the challenges of the 21st century.
Tomorrow is an important day for Australia. Anzac Day marks the losses suffered by Australia and New Zealand in the First World War, and the conflicts that followed.
So Prime Minister, you will be in France to honour those Australians who never came home. And in a cemetery just a kilometre from here, nine Australian airmen are buried. Just some of many of your countrymen who bravely fought and died here for our shared values. Their sacrifice reminds us all of why nations need to work together to prevent conflict and preserve peace.
So once again, welcome to the NATO Headquarters, it’s great to work together with you and to continue to strengthen the partnership between Australia and NATO.
Welcome.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you very much Secretary General yesterday in Berlin I gave a speech about the power and the purpose of the West and no single entity better represents that power and that purpose than NATO. In the face of security threats and strategic competition, we need to defend and extend the rules based structures that have enabled our common peace and prosperity.
And in that task NATO has no more steadfast partner than Australia. As the world's foremost military alliance, representing 29 democracies, NATO is a major contributor to our common security. Whether it's standing firm in the face of Russia's malign actions, responding to the threat of terrorism in Afghanistan, helping ensure stability in Iraq or defending against cyber attacks. Together Australia and NATO are acting with purpose to defend our freedom and protect our security.
The Secretary General and I have discussed our close cooperation in Afghanistan, where we must never again let that country become a haven for terrorists. Australia has been for a long time as the Secretary General acknowledges, one of the largest non-NATO contributors to the effort in Afghanistan and we remain committed to our common cause.
We condemn utterly the terrorist attack on a voter registration centre in Kabul on the 22nd of April which killed at least 57 people according to the latest reports. Another horrific reminder that we must continue to stay the course in the fight against terrorism.
We've discussed our work together on cyber with Australia yesterday becoming a member of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Estonia. This week Australia will observe LockedShields the world's largest cyber defence exercise. Digital technologies are profound enablers but we must remain alert to the threats and do all we can to ensure that we are protected from increasingly malicious activities online.
I've just come from London where I agreed with Prime Minister May to enhance our collaboration to deal with these threats and NATO is doing excellent work with this centre and we're very pleased to be participating. This is a global threat that requires a coordinated global response.
We reiterated our determination to work together to prevent the use of chemical weapons. We express solidarity with the people of the United Kingdom after the shocking attack in Salisbury but more importantly we discussed our joint response to that act and the decision to expel Russian diplomats to send a clear message that this type of criminal action will not be tolerated.
Australia was the only country outside the EU and NATO to take this action and we continue to stand up for our values, our shared values and the safety and security of our people.
We also welcomed in our discussion, with caution, the signs of progress on the Korean Peninsula but emphasised that the international community must maintain the pressure of economic sanctions until we see complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation. In our discussion I advised the Secretary General of the close cooperation with China to enforce the sanctions against the DPRK and encourage dialogue that could lead to that denuclearisation objective.
Here in Brussels I'm also going to be discussing free trade and the European Australian free trade agreement that we're seeking to achieve with the president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and this has great benefits as I discussed yesterday in Berlin for both sides and are we looking forward to the commencement of negotiations trade means jobs after all.
Our economic and security interests are interconnected. Like NATO, the Australian government is acting to preserve the security on which our prosperity depends. We can't have one without the other. And now more than at more than at any time since the end of the Cold War, NATO is central to that task of maintaining the security, the compliance with the rule of law, that is the foundation for our freedom and indeed of our prosperity.
Secretary General thank you very much for your warm welcome and the very productive discussions we've had here today.