The foreign ministers of the 30 NATO allies gather for two days (Nov. 29-30) at the Palace of the Parliament in the Romanian capital Bucharest, addressing ways to step up support for Ukraine.
The Bucharest meeting is symbolic for one obvious reason: It takes place in the site of a 2008 summit at which Ukraine and Georgia were both promised they would eventually be granted membership.
The alliance’s foreign ministers will be joined by their Swedish and Finnish counterparts, the latter only as invitees, as Turkey and Hungary still haven’t ratified their membership applications. Unanimous consent of all 30 existing allied countries is required for a country to join NATO.
NATO’s foreign ministers will also meet with the foreign ministers of Georgia, Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina, to express Allies’ strong support for these partners, and address the security situation in the Western Balkans and the Black Sea regions.
In a press conference Monday (Nov. 28) after a meeting with Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg highlighted the importance of investing in defense “as we face our greatest security crisis in a generation.”
Stoltenberg said that “NATO Allies are providing unprecedented support to Ukraine, and they will continue to provide unprecedented support to Ukraine, including by helping them to rebuild their gas and power infrastructure, [and] of course also continue to deliver air defence systems.” Russia has been carrying out heavy missile attacks on Ukraine’s power grid and heating infrastructure roughly weekly since October.
At the end of the first day of the meeting of NATO foreign ministers Stoltenberg said NATO is not a party to the war, but it will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes. The Secretary General also outlined that on Wednesday (Nov. 30), ministers will discuss resilience and how to tackle the challenges posed by China’s coercive policies and actions.
This is the fifth Meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs this year. From Bucharest it is just 250 kilometres to the border with Ukraine.
30/11/2022
NATO foreign ministers ended two days of meetings in Bucharest on Wednesday (Nov. 30) . On Tuesday (Nov. 29), NATO Foreign Ministers met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
Allies agreed that continued military support for Ukraine is essential – in particular, additional air defences. Allies also announced additional contributions to NATO’s Comprehensive Assistance Package, which is providing Ukraine with non-lethal aid, including fuel and generators.
Foreign ministers also considered China’s ambitious military developments, its technological advances, and its growing cyber and hybrid activities. They also stressed the importance of meeting NATO’s resilience guidelines, maintaining NATO’s technological edge, and continuing to strengthen cooperation with partners in the Indo-Pacific region and with the European Union.
“NATO is an Alliance of Europe and North America, but the challenges we face are global, and we must address them together in NATO,” said Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
With reporting by Reuters, Agerpres
