The Foreign Ministers of France, Germany, Great Britain and the United States during the virtual meeting emphasized the need to strengthen NATO. This was announced on Thursday, February 18, in their joint statement following the talks in Paris.
“Based on the recommendations of the NATO think tank, the ministers agreed on the importance of further strengthening NATO and ensuring that the alliance is in line with today’s strategic reality,” reads a press release posted on the website of the German Foreign Ministry.
The meeting participants stressed the importance of ending the war in Yemen, condemned the military coup in Myanmar, and discussed the global response to the coronavirus crisis.
Earlier on Thursday, it became known that the Foreign Ministers of France, Germany and Great Britain and the US Secretary of State during the meeting expressed their interest in preventing the development of nuclear weapons by Iran, and also confirmed the need to continue consultations with China and Russia on this issue.
On the same day, the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, at a meeting of the heads of defense departments of the NATO countries, said that the “destabilizing” policy pursued by Russia is one of the main threats to NATO.
On February 15, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that at the NATO ministerial meeting, he will bring up for discussion the issue of increasing funding for NATO military activity near the borders of Russia.