Fatmir Mediu
Chairman of Executive Board of SESC
Former Defence Minister of Albania
First I want to thank the organizers for very insightful summit.
Second I want to thank the Turkish Armed Forces and Turkish political leadership for supporting Albania to become NATO member.
Third Also the support one this tragic days of the earthquake.
My hope and wish is that all Balkan countries become NATO countries soon, including Kosovo, Serbia and Bosnia&Herzegovina.
- Almost all around the world we are facing security Challengies.
* Nuclear proliferation’s and disputes, in particular Iran and North Korea,
*Cyber attacks private hackers or state sponsor are effecting the life of the people, economies, critical infrastructure, elections,
*Terrorism using internet as propaganda and recruiting platform
*Trade conflicts,
*Religion conflicts
Europe speaks about inclusiveness and and is become more and more an exclusive club for few,
*Brexit issues, Enlargement fatigue of Europe,
*Populism, corruption , poverty and upraising in many countries.
Balkan is never behind we always have something to confuse ourself and the others:
Geopolitics in the Balkans is becoming very challenging, especially with Russia’s aggressive involvement in the region, Chinese economic expansion, radicalization and Terrorism, dormant ethnic conflicts, and recycled ideas for pure ethnic states, which proved in early 1990 to bring the Balkans to long wars and numerous victims. In particular after EU Council decision in October to stop EU enlargement, more EU skepticism and EU loosing its political leverage, a come back of US etc.
some rightly spoke about populism, we should also see the other reality:
Democratic governments in the region, constitutional democracies and strong institutions are shifting toward to strong man government, Market economy shifting toward controlled economies by governments and oligarchs and obvious corruption.
We are soon going to face the reality of bipolar world, USA and China with their spheres of influence, with different ideologies, political systems and economic structures.
This bipolar system will evolve a lot of changes in security concept, political and military alliances, trades and technologies.
Looking from this perspective, new realities and challenges, I believe that NATO is not”brain dead” as President Macron declared, but has vital role the as the oldest military and political alliance, should recapitalize its own values, resources and potentials, with more adequate vision and decision making and Turkey is and should be very important part of it.
Turkey has an important role, not only due to its military strength, but also due to its important role that has and can play in support of peace and stability in a very fragile region, and more in particular to the fight against terrorism and all forms of violent extremism.
As we speak about defense industry in new world area, we should consider mid and long term security challenges, whi are very hybrid and far from simple military challenges, they include energy, infrastructure and technology.
Before speaking about how to give more s money, for defense spendings we should talk about how efficient we are in defense spending.
It has been and still remains one of the main concerns in almost every NATO Summit, defense budget 2% of GDP, since only a handful of NATO countries have the defense budget 2% or more, among them Turkey and US.
In Albania, while working to become a NATO member in 2008, when I was the Defense Minister, we achieved a defense budget of 2,21%, whereas today it is 1,22%. The same with many NATO countries. Why::
Do we face less threats?
Our operability and defense system do not need more investment?
In the contrary, we need to invest more, but we have failed in two directions: how we spend the money for defense and as result loosing political support and..
Once we become NATO countries we take the Security for granted.
Defense spendings should considering new realities, increasing operation capabilities, life circle and dual use of military equipment , reconsidering threats, multifunctional of military capabilities, The exact role and response of military in natural disasters search and rescue and natural disaster responses.
For Turkey as big country it might be different, but for small countries, like N Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Kosovo we should think how we can be effective in defense spending.
Smart Defense: “Working with NATO nations on multinational solutions, industry can highlight opportunities for cooperation.
Smart Defense also represents an important opportunity for Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SME) to contribute to capability development.”.
Interoperability is the backbone of success in operations of the military , to this end represent areas where industry can contribute..,
It is needed to support nations to invest in interoperability, cutting-edge and cost-effective equipment.
The Alliance should supports Allies in identifying and developing multinational cooperative projects to deliver the key defense capabilities needed for nations and Alliance security.
But as technology grows more expensive, and defense budgets are under pressure, there are key capabilities which many Allies can only obtain if they work together to develop and acquire them.
It is a good decisions to take forward specific multinational projects, including for better protection of our forces, better surveillance and better training. These projects will deliver improved operational effectiveness, economies of scale, and closer connections between our forces.
Cooperation should cover a wide range to address the most critical capability requirements, cyber defense, ballistic missile defense, and Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance to name a few.
Developing and procuring capabilities through multinational, regional cooperation helps generate economies of scale, reduces costs, and delivers interoperability.
Let me get down to the earth and talk about Albania and neighboring countries that are and want to become NATO countries, which means: Good political relationship, no territory disputes, interoperability with NATO
- Our defense spendings have been mostly inefficient and somehow some military industries of our allies have been good at fishing, giving used gifts in one hand and taking money for maintenance with other hand”.
Cheap becoming more expensive sometimes, in defense spendings.
As we have leaders of defense industry it is a simple question:
We should look for long term relationship not just selling and buying.
Balkan countries especially should consider the defense spendings differently as we work to increase the defense budget we should work and have a more regional approach.
We as small countries in the Balkan should consider:
- regional defense and security strategies
- regional operation capabilities
- regional interoperability
- regional defense planning and budgeting
Let me be more concrete:
We are NATO countries facing the same threats as NATO and we should combine operational capabilities and those should be interoperable with NATO:
We should focus our Land, Sea and Air spendings regionally. None of us can afford to do it on its own and for more than that most of these investments are more cost effective and can generate more economic opportunities and jobs if we work together.
Let me give a few some examples:
Air surveillance is better to work each country separately or together, today our air surveillance and policing is supported by NATO, Italy and Greece.
As we all are more focused on Helicopter capabilities it is time that we should come to the agreement to have the same type of helicopter considering life circle, training, maintenance and with dual use.
We can turn our spending in investments and job opportunities.
The same for land and Sea or air defense system.
This way we will be more cost effective and productive.
Let me touch in another subject 5G-secure 5G.
Today, the so-called fourth generation technology revolution promises to dwarf the impact of every advancement before its time. As we spoke in the morning artificial intelligence… robotics… big data analytics… autonomous vehicles and weaponry… remote surgery… machine learning, and smart cities… and so much more.
These enormous leaps in human capability are poised to transform nearly every aspect of how we live, work, play, and defend ourselves. How these innovations develop, and under whose leadership, will have much to say about the future balance of economic power and global geopolitical influence now and in the decades to come.
At the core of this emerging period of new life-altering technology- a singular technology pulling it all together and making it possible- is the next generation of wireless communications networks- known as 5G.
The speeds and capacities provided by 5G networks will be disruptive and revolutionary… and not just because they will make our cell phones better and our Internet connections faster.
While I hosted General Jim Jones the former NATO Allied Supreme Commander and 22nd National Security adviser of US, in working meeting in Albania he declared”The country or group of countries that roll out the network quickest and best will enjoy a first mover advantage in developing the innovation-related goods, services, and solutions. It will also create a new category of jobs. Prosperity enables us to secure ourselves, fulfill commitments to friends and allies, and advance the nation’s interests and values
The great power winner of this race will have the upper hand in setting global 5G norms and standards. Nothing could be more consequential in how the global future takes shape”
Should we be concerned aware of the models and behaviors?
What about precedents which informs us that 5G capabilities might be employed to steal intellectual property, monitor and control its population, and control as much of the global data as possible?
Should we see the 5G to be a platform to empower and protect the privacy of the individual, protect intellectual property, and safeguard national secrets, all the while enabling growth and development as priority..
There is good news: countries that believe in democracy, freedom and liberty are working to make 5G provides available, this gives NATO countries a golden opportunity to build greater cybersecurity into our networks by improving our supply chain practices and creating more responsible and enforceable global norms.
Making these improvements is crucial to protecting our qualitative military edge, securing command, control and communications networks, achieving greater interoperability, and better protection of our critical infrastructure, as well as safeguarding personal privacy.
But unless the transition is not just to 5G but to Secure 5G, the future will be one of increased vulnerability and insecurity. There will be no smart cities without a secure network, and there will be no protection of security, intellectual property, or privacy for the individual.
We all should agree.
“Security is not cheap and freedom is not for sale”:
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