WEBVTT

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- Prime Minister, no sorry, President Niinisto

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and Prime Minister Sipilä and High Representative

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and Vice President Mogherini.

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It's great to be here together with all of you today

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and to take part in this inauguration

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of this Center to counter hybrid threats.

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It is especially good to be here together with you

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because this shows how we are moving forward on

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the NATO/EU cooperation and Frederica just described that.

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But let me add, it also describes and is yet another example

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of how we are moving together and not only to strengthen

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NATO/EU cooperation but also how NATO is strengthening

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the cooperation with partner countries as Finland.

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And Sauli you remember that last November

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you visited me at the NATO headquarters

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and that was actually...

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I was not aware of that before you told me

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but that was the first time a Finnish President

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had visited the NATO headquarters.

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So, it's yet another example of how we step by step

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are strengthening NATO/EU cooperation

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but also NATO cooperation with EU members

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and partner countries like Finland.

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And this Center illustrates how we are also delivering

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concrete results as part of this cooperation.

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Then I would also like to underline that

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for NATO it is important to have partners like Finland

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because you are a very highly valued

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and important partner for the whole of NATO.

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You contribute to NATO mission and operations,

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you have done that for many, many years.

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In the Balkans, in Kosovo, in Afghanistan.

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I recently visited Afghanistan,

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I met Finnish soldiers and personnel there.

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And you're also participating in NATO exercises,

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a NATO response force who are helping, working together

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with NATO in many different ways.

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It's good for NATO and I hope it's also good for Finland.

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Then you all have a special skill

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or Finland has a special role to play

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when it comes to developing NATO's relationship with Russia.

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Because you have the long border with Russia,

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you have the long relationship with Russia.

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This year you celebrated 100 years of independence.

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And you know better than I that those 100 years

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is very much about Finland's relationship

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to the neighbor in the East to Russia.

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In good times and in bad times.

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And the Finnish border with Russia

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is longer than the combined border

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of all NATO allies with Russia.

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So therefore I would also like to thank you, Finland,

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for what you do when it comes to sharing knowledge,

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experience, analysis on the relationship with Russia

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which is also important for NATO.

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Add to that that we have now one concrete example

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where we are working together and where NATO's

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playing a key role and that is when it comes to,

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we call it, air safety or safety in the Baltic region,

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air safety the issues we have seen with some incidents,

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some accidents, some dangerous situations.

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NATO discussed it, we discussed it in

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the NATO Russia Council, I discussed it with the President

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and now there's a very constructive process going on

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within the (inaudible) framework

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to address how can we agree on guidelines,

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on arrangements to increase air safety.

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Also for when it comes to military planes,

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state-owned aircrafts in the Baltic Sea region.

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We still have some work to do,

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but Finland is the key country in leading

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and hosting that process which brings together NATO allies,

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Russia, Baltic States, and then working on how can we

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actually make some real progress in addressing something

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which has been of great concern for all of us.

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So, my first message is to thank you,

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thank Finland for the partnership with NATO

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and for being an important (inaudible)

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developing the political dialog with Russia.

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Let me also add that, when you mentioned the example

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with the bicycles, you know that up in North

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we have a border with Russia.

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And suddenly thousands of people showed up there

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and it was called (inaudible)

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but now it's called (inaudible)

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and they start to cross the borders.

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And the odd thing is that anyone wants to cross the border

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into Norway in the middle of the winter that's not normal.

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But the second thing was that instead of skis,

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they brought bicycles.

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And that's because it's forbidden by law

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to cross the Norwegian-Russian border on foot.

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It's not a Norwegian law, it's a Russian law.

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So then the easiest way to get

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a vehicle was to buy a bicycle.

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So, they actually brought thousands of bicycles into Norway.

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They didn't smuggle bicycles but they actually were

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fleeing war and (inaudible).

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The refugees come into Norway but this was back in 2015

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but it illustrates that it was actually bicycles

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that was the big issue in much of the coverage

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of all those people crossing that border.

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Then I agree with what the President

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and the High Representative has said

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about the importance of this Center.

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Let me just add some reflections and some points.

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And the first thing is that hybrid threats

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are many different threats and we use the phrase hybrid

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to cover actually many different things.

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Normally a kind of mixture of military

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and non-military means of aggression.

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A combination of covert and overt operations and measures.

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Everything from propaganda from the disinformation

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to actually the use of regular forces, from Tweets to tanks.

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Sometimes soldiers in uniform,

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sometimes soldiers without uniform,

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and sometimes something that happens in the cyberspace,

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and sometimes thing that happens at our borders.

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And it is this combination of so many

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different things at the same time with a aim

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to disguise and to hide the real intention

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that has got the name hybrid threats.

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And it's another buzzword which I hear everyplace

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or everywhere I go now.

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And therefore I think it is important to remind us all

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of the fact that covert operations, disinformation,

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the efforts to try to disguise your intentions,

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that's not something new.

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It is at least as old as the Trojan Horse.

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So it has happened before.

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If there's something new, then it is the scale

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and the scope and the speed.

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So it's used more now.

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And the speed has increased because of

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you can, for instance, use cyber, the internet,

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to conduct a lot of your hybrid measures.

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And therefore NATO has responded.

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We have responded in close cooperation

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with the European Union, responded in close cooperation

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with partner countries like Finland.

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Just to briefly mention what we have done.

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I'll mention at least three areas

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where we have reacted and adapted.

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The first thing we have done is

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to improve our situational awareness.

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Meaning, to improve the way of understanding

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what is going on.

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Because one of the main challenges with hybrid threats

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is that you don't understand that you are attacked

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before it's too late.

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So everything that can improve our intelligence,

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our surveillance, and our reconnaissance,

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is also a way to prepare and to react

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and to defend against hybrid threats.

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Therefore we have established a new division

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only working with intelligence in NATO.

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We are improving the ways we are sharing

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and analyzing, understanding intelligence,

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which is extremely important for

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also addressing hybrid threats.

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We are developing our reconnaissance

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and surveillance capabilities.

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We will soon deploy, or have some new NATO drones

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which will be key in the hybrid situation

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to improve situational awareness.

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And we are also working, of course, with the European Union

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also when it comes to sharing information,

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improving the way to analyze and to understand

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the hybrid threats.

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So that's the first area of response from NATO.

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Improved situational awareness to be able to

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foresee and understand what is going on.

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The second thing we have done is to

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significantly increase the readiness of our forces.

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And we have done that in different ways.

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We have tripled the size of what we call

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the NATO Response Force to 30,000 troops.

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We have, as part of that, established a new

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Joint High Readiness Brigade or a VJTF,

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a Very High Readiness Joint Task Force,

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which is a brigade that can react within a few days.

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And perhaps for at least many countries,

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perhaps the most important element is that we

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have actually increased our military presence

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in some of those countries which are most exposed.

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We have deployed four battle groups

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to the three Baltic countries and Poland,

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and also increased our presence

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in the Southeast of the Alliance.

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So just the fact that we now have troops

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and (inaudible) multinational troops

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in the three Baltic countries and Poland,

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of course increases significantly our ability

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to react fast if something happens.

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So the deployment of the battle groups,

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the new High Readiness Joint Task Force,

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and the tripling of the size of the NATO Response Force,

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all of that all together and other measures

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have increased the readiness,

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meaning our ability to react quickly if needed.

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And if we see small green men showing up somewhere

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where they should not show up.

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Then NATO will be there.

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And the third thing we have done to respond

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to a more challenging security environment

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with more hybrid threats

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is to improve our resilience.

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And we have done that in many different ways,

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and again, in cooperation with

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the European Union and partners as Finland.

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Perhaps the most important area where we have

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improved our resilience is when it comes to infrastructure.

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We work with also in the EU when it comes to,

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for instance, infrastructure, energy, and security.

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But in particular cyber.

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And that's part about being able to defend our own networks,

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there's no military operation,

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there is no military activity,

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there's no military conflict without a big cyber dimension.

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So we have to be able to support

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and defend our own networks.

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But of course it's also about working with

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the European Union, we have an arrangement with

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the European Union (inaudible) experts,

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(inaudible) exchanging information, sharing experiences

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on how to help member states, NATO members, EU members,

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to strengthen their resilience and their ability

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to defend their own cyber networks.

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And that's extremely important because we have seen

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that many of the hybrid threats they actually take

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the form of different kinds of hybrid attacks,

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undermining our democratic processes,

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reducing our ability to have free

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and open discussions without fake news and disinformation.

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That's also an area where we have learned

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a lot from Finland because you have really focused

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in so many areas on the resilience,

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on how to be able to protect your own societies

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and your own infrastructure and networks.

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And that's yet another example of how we believe

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or really see that the cooperation with Finland

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is of mutual benefit, both for Finland and for NATO.

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And then we have this Center which is a new building block

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in how we are responding to hybrid threats.

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And I strongly believe that to have a Center like this

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as a hub for sharing information,

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for sharing experiences, for learning from each other,

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for organizing training and for also

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doing some practical work

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and looking into how we can address specific hybrid threats

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it will be of great advantage both for EU, for NATO,

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and, of course, for all our member states including Finland.

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So it is an important thing that

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we have been able to develop this Center.

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It has been supported by the EU, by NATO.

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But I would like to especially commend Finland

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for (inaudible) support and for funding

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and for hosting this Center which

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will be of high value for all of us.

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Let me also add that this Center is important also

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because it will link and work together

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with other Centers of Excellence.

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There is a Center of Excellence in Estonia,

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a NATO Center of Excellence in Estonia

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on cyber threats, on cyber defense.

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We have a Center of Excellence

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in Latvia on strategic communications.

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We have a Center of Excellence

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in Lithuania on energy security.

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And energy security and strategic communications

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and cyber are all elements in addressing hybrid threats.

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And I know that the Directors of the four Centers,

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this Center and the three Centers in the Baltic countries,

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they will meet tomorrow and make sure that they are

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linking together and then we become even stronger

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by making sure the different Center of Excellence

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addressing cyber threats in different ways

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are working closely together.

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And once again, it underlines the NATO/EU dimension.

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Last July we signed a declaration, President Juncker,

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President Tusk and I on NATO/EU cooperation.

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Then Frederica and I, we developed 42 measures,

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many of them highly relevant for hybrid attacks.

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And now we are implementing the 42 measures

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on cyber, on exercises and many other areas.

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And then we will also start to work on how can we

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add to those measures to make sure that we

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not only implement what we agreed

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but also develop new areas where

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we can further strengthen the NATO/EU cooperation.

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So I am inspired by the fact that

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we have been able to reach so far in such a short time.

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And I remember also very well the first time

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Frederica and I met, because that was a...

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not the first time we met because that's many years ago

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but the first time we met as High Representative

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and Vice President and Secretary General,

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and since then we have met very regularly

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and worked very hard on how we can strengthen

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the NATO/EU cooperation and it's good to see

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that we are making progress.

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So, many thanks to the European Union

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and many thanks to Finland for making this day possible,

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and for making this Center something

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which is now going to be opened.

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Thank you.

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(applause)