NATO holds exercises to make sure collective defense strong: NATO chief

Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) said here on Monday that right now troops from across the alliance were exercising together to make sure that the collective defense is strong and ready.

He made the remarks at a press briefing on the upcoming NATO Foreign Ministerial Meeting in Turkey this week.

He said the North Sea ships and submarines from ten "allied countries" were engaged in a large exercise to detect encounter submarines together with NATO partner Sweden.

Besides, in Estonia, over 13,000 troops from eight NATO countries were taking part in a major land exercise. And over the Baltic states and Poland fighter jets for other allies just started a new rotation providing air police around the clock, he said.

"These are just a few examples of how NATO provides deterrence, how we protect our nations against threats from any direction," he said.

Stoltenberg said the upcoming NATO foreign ministers' meeting will focus on "what more we can do with our partners and for our partners."

"working with partners around the world enables NATO to project stability without projecting forces and enables our partners to contribute to what we do," he said. Endit