(L to R) Hungarian Minister of Defense Istvan Simicsko, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation General Denis Mercier, and NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller attend a press conference held on the second day of the NATO Transformation Seminar 2017, in Budapest, Hungary, March 23, 2017. NATO is committed to adapting itself to the new threats it is facing in an ever-changing and complex security environment, NATO officials said Thursday. (Xinhua/Attila Volgyi)
BUDAPEST, March 23 (Xinhua) -- NATO is committed to adapting itself to the new threats it is facing in an ever-changing and complex security environment, NATO officials said Thursday.
"We took the time to think about how to adapt to the future, to think out of the box," General Denis Mercier, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, told a press conference held on the second day of the NATO Transformation Seminar 2017.
"Today, we live in a complex world, where the lines between peace, crisis and conflicts are often blurred," he said.
Mercier said NATO's challenges included the situation in the Middle East, North Africa, the ISIS and also Russia.
About Russia, NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller said that although deterrence played a major role in the agenda of the Alliance, the emphasis was put on "continuing the dialogue" with Moscow.
She said that NATO was conducting the largest reinforcements in the Baltic area since the end of the cold war. "More stable neighbors mean more security for us", she added.
In order to finance NATO's projects, she said that the 28 member states were positive in reaching 2 percent of their GDP on defense.
