The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is as important to the United States as it is to Europe, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said here at the Heritage Foundation yesterday.
The NATO chief spoke at the foundation following talks with U.S. security officials. In his remarks, he stressed the importance of the nearly 70-year-old organization to America.
The alliance has guaranteed peace and stability in Europe since it was founded in 1949, Stoltenberg said. NATO was a response to aggression from the Soviet Union in the aftermath of World War II, and has morphed into an alliance seeking a stable, rules-based international climate where all nations can prosper.
The past 70 years have seen an unprecedented period of prosperity in Europe and North America, Stoltenberg said. NATO is the foundation for that prosperity. “Europe and North America together represent half of the world's economic output,” he said. “And while we now have our disagreements over tariffs, it does not change the fact that Europe and North America are each other's biggest trading partners.”
Ensuring a peaceful, prosperous Europe is in the interests of all parties “on both sides of the Atlantic,” he said.
“NATO allies share and support the fundamental values which are at the heart of American society,” he said.
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