Rutte: In Kosovo, allies are working to have the forces and resources needed

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has even mentioned Kosovo today in his recent conference, which it had after the completion of the defence ministers' meeting.

Before the media, in part of his speech he said the topic of discussion, as Kosovo had mentioned before, and the Western Balkans.

We discussed NATO operations in the Western Balkans and Iraq” at the meeting today.

“in Kosovo, Allies continue to work together to ensure that our KFOR mission has the forces and resources it needs to maintain a safe environment and for all”, Rutte has managed.

For the Middle East, and the NATO Mission in Iraq, he stressed that this institution continues to be an important contributor to stability.

“to ensure that Iraqi security forces are able to fight terrorist groups and provide a safe environment for the progress of Iraq's economy and society. NATO is also deepening its political dialogue with Iraq. Because we have a common interest in the stable, secure and prosperous Middle East”, Rutte stated.

Furthermore, he added, the allies agreed that air and missile defence remains a priority of the Alliance.

This is even more important in view of Russia's fight against Ukraine, which has resulted in numerous violations of NATO airspace. Including only yesterday in Romania. Let me express NATO solidarity with Romania and also order the Romanian authorities and SACEUR for quick and effective response to this” incident.

We will continue to increase surveillance, and exchange information. We have recently significantly increased our presence on the eastern NATO wing and strengthened NATO's air police mission. Allies plan to buy thousands of air and artillery defence systems and many hundreds of modern fighter aircraft, mainly the 5th generation F-35. Allies are buying 1,000 Patriot missiles to recharge their reserves. Early this month, the Air, Sea, and Land Forces from 12 Allied nations gathered in Greece to exercise sophisticated high-level air defence tactics as part of NATO's new training, Ramstein Flag 24. And the new base of Aegis Ashor missile protection in Poland increases our ability to defend against the growing global threat of ballistic missiles”, Rutte said.