Today, 14 September 2024, NATO's highest Military Authority meets in Prague, Czech Republic, for the annual Military Committee Conference. The meeting will discuss military strategic developments within the Alliance, in light of the decisions taken at the NATO Summit in Washington DC in July 2024.
In his opening speech, Admiral Rob Bauer, the Chair of the NATO Military Committee, reflected on the Alliance's key priorities, "The NATO Military Authorities have two herculean tasks that they need to undertake simultaneously. While continuing and ramping up our support to Ukraine, we must also bolster our own deterrence and defence."
Looking back to the 2023 Military Committee Conference, Admiral Bauer highlighted the progress made on the implementation and executability of the DDA Family of Plans, "When we held this committee conference in Oslo last year, NATO's new defence plans, the so called DDA Family of Plans, had just been approved. NATO now has 500,000 troops on high readiness, we established the Allied Reaction Force. We are adapting our Command and Control structure and Allies are rapidly developing and expanding their capabilities."
Petr Pavel, the President of the Czech Republic, and former Chair of the Military Committee (2012-2015) stated that the 25th anniversary of the Czech Republic's membership in NATO is a very important milestone in the development of Armed Forces of the Czech Republic. "It is an honour for Czech Republic to host for the first time a Military Committee Conference as we celebrate the 25th anniversary of joining NATO, and actually in the same year when the Alliance celebrates 75 years of its existence."
"NATO proved to be truly the most successful and long-lasting military alliance in the world, which does not mean that it is perfect. Being a human creation, it is imperfect as we are, and we have to constantly work on improving it. However, it proved to be very successful in taking on board countries like the Czech Republic and many others, allowing them to become members of the zone of stability, security, and prosperity. This is the experience that I made in my total eight years in the NATO structures", said the President of the Czech Republic.
In turn, Lieutenant General Karel Řehka, Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces, emphasised the urgency of continued Allied support to Ukraine. "For Ukraine, the ongoing Russian aggression is a war for survival. But it is also a fight for the principles of democracy, sovereignty and territorial integrity that NATO exists to defend".
The Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces outlined how the security environment and the growing Russian threat generated a positive impact on national security and defence. "We have revised our national strategies and defence plans to better address the threats. We have elaborated our national Vision of Future Warfare beyond 2040 and accelerated the modernization of our armed forces, recognizing the need for state-of-the-art capabilities (…). Last, but not least, we have made the crucial decision to spend at least 2% of our GDP on defence."
At 17h45 there will be a joint press conference by Admiral Bauer and Lieutenant General Karel Řehka. The joint press conference will be livestreamed on the NATO website.
