Today, the Honourable Bill Blair, Minister of National Defence, concluded a productive visit to Brussels, Belgium, where he participated in the 23rd Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) meeting and a meeting of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Defence Ministers, including a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council in Defence Ministers format.
During the UDCG meeting on June 13 hosted by United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, Minister Blair announced that Canada plans to send an initial tranche of 2,300 CRV7 rocket motors to Ukraine. He also announced that Canada will provide more than 130,000 surplus rounds of small arms ammunition and 29 Nanuk Remote Weapons Systems from surplus Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) inventory. The Minister also highlighted that the first four of fifty Armoured Combat Support Vehicles built by Canadian workers at General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada are departing London, Ontario this week.
Following the UDCG meeting, Minister Blair signed a Letter of Intent for the Armour Capability Coalition, formalizing Canada's membership in the Coalition. Canada is also a member of the Drone Capability Coalition and Air Force Capability Coalition.
On June 13 and 14, Minister Blair participated in a meeting of NATO Defence Ministers ahead of next month's NATO Leaders' Summit in Washington. This meeting also marked Sweden's first Defence Ministers' Meeting as a full NATO Ally. Allies reaffirmed their commitment to NATO and discussed common defence priorities, including strengthening the Alliance's deterrence and defence efforts and supporting Ukraine.
The Minister reiterated that Canada's commitment to NATO is steadfast. Tomorrow, Canada will deploy His Majesty's Canadian Ship (HMCS) Charlottetown from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to join and assume leadership of Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 in the Mediterranean Sea. Over the next six months, HMCS Charlottetown will execute missions and participate in exercises with Allied warships.
On the margins of the Defence Ministers' Meeting, Minister Blair and his Romanian counterpart, Defence Minister Angel Tîlvăr, signed a new Canada-Romania Defence Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The MOU will replace the existing Canada-Romania MOU on Bilateral Military Relations, signed by the two countries in 1993. The MOU will enable Canada and Romania to strengthen cooperation in areas including military education, training, and operations, defence research and technology, and mutual logistics support.
At NATO HQ in Brussels, Minister Blair also held productive meetings with:
- Norway's Minister of Defence, Bjørn Arild Gram, and Germany's Minister of Defence, Boris Pistorius. The Ministers discussed ways for Canada, Norway, and Germany to strengthen their collaboration on common priorities.
- Representatives of Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Minister Blair and his colleagues discussed the reinforcement of NATO's eastern flank, where Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and United States lead multinational NATO Battle Groups. The Minister highlighted Canada's ongoing work to boost its presence in Latvia, including plans for the enhanced Forward Presence Brigade in Latvia to conduct its first Brigade exercise and NATO Combat Readiness Evaluation in Fall 2024.
- Members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group Drone Coalition. Minister Blair highlighted that the delivery of 900 Canadian-built drones for Ukraine will begin this month, with more deliveries to follow in the coming months, and noted Canada's recent investment of $3 million to support the production of drones in Ukraine. Coalition members discussed work to finalize the Coalition Memorandum of Understanding, and ways of enhancing coordination between partner nations.
Minister Blair, along with several of his counterparts, also signed a Letter of Intent to reiterate their collective support for the Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes. This Letter of Intent reaffirms our commitment to strengthening educational partnerships pertaining to defence and security.
During this important moment for Euro-Atlantic security, Canada continues to work closely with NATO Allies to ensure the protection of all Canadians - and the one billion citizens that NATO protects.
