Speech by Dutch Minister Brekelmans of Defence at NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum
Your Excellencies, industry leaders, distinguished guests,
On behalf of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, it’s my great pleasure to welcome you to the plenary session of the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum.
Secretary General Rutte – dear Mark,
President Von der Leyen,
Your presence here together signals our shared determination.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Tomorrow marks a historic day.
A historic day for NATO.
A historic day for our collective security.
And a historic day for our defence industry.
Within the next 24 hours, we expect all 32 NATO Allies to agree on the 5% The Hague Defence Investment Pledge.
This week’s events in the Middle East have only underscored the growing instability in our world – and the urgent need to strengthen our Defence and scale up our defence industry.
Now is the time to deliver.
The 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague puts the spotlight on world leaders.
But NATO’s true strength lies beyond these walls – in the armed forces of 32 nations: the men and women who stand ready every day to defend our freedom.
They can only fly, navigate, drive, or fight with equipment, weapon systems and real capabilities.
It is real delivery that counts.
And that responsibility lies with us: governments and industry.
It is our job to move from pledge to product.
The Netherlands aims to punch above its weight.
Through our deliveries to Ukraine.
Through deep cooperation with Germany in our joint land forces.
And at Eindhoven Air Base, where we lead one of NATO’s most successful multinational projects: the Multi-Role Tanker Transport Fleet.
Today, we proudly welcome Denmark and Sweden to this project, along with two new aircraft now on order.
You may know the Netherlands for our expertise in water management – from New Orleans to Dubai.
Now, we’re taking that expertise to a new frontier: the bottom of the sea.
That’s why we recently launched SeaSEC – a coalition of six nations, leading companies and researchers, to protect the critical infrastructure beneath our oceans.
Pipelines, cables, offshore platforms – lifelines in a connected world.
That same urgency is what we see in today’s Forum – with key contracts being signed, turning ambition into real capabilities.
The key lies in creating new types of partnerships between government and industry.
Not the typical ‘buyer and sellers game’, but new partnerships built on trust, transparency, long-term vision, and shared purpose.
That requires new ways of working.
As a minister of Defence, I face the dilemma of on the one hand the need for international cooperation, but on the other hand the pressure to have our national industry benefit from increasing Defence budgets.
Let’s be open about these dilemmas.
And find solutions to overcome these dilemmas.
Smart ways of cooperation that are beneficial to all of us.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Every time I visit Ukraine, I am impressed how Ukrainians are leading the way.
When I was in the command center in Kharkiv, I saw the military working together with volunteers (even students) and entrepreneurs.
Volunteers were looking at big screens, watching live drone images and analyzing data.
Military commanders were guiding the soldiers at the front line.
Enterpreneurs were working closely together with them, to optimize their drones and technology.
This intense collaboration enabled the troops in Kharkiv to adapt their operations every 3 weeks.
This is the only reason why Russia has not captured Kharkiv yet.
Let this be a source of inspiration for us.
So I say to each of you – Ministers, CEOs, commanders, innovators: let’s reach out to each other.
We need to create much closer and deeper partnerships to protect our security, our freedom, our way of life.
So, let’s unite.
Let’s innovate.
And above all, let’s deliver.
Thank you.