Toespraak van minister Ruben Brekelmans tijdens de NIDV Exhibition Defence & Security (NEDS)
Toespraak van minister Ruben Brekelmans van Defensie bij de NIDV Exhibition Defence & Security (NEDS) in AHOY Rotterdam op 21 november 2024.
Ladies and gentlemen,
It’s great to see so many of you here today.
Because this 35th edition of the NEDS is probably the most important one so far.
We live in historic times. History is written as we speak.
The question is: does agression prevail in Europe, or freedom and the principle of sovereingty?
Are we, and our children and grand children, going to live in an era of freedom and security, or an era of agression and renewed imperialism.
Today, we are in Rotterdam.
One of the cities which suffered the most during World War II.
Large parts of the city were bombed and disappeared in just a few days.
But Rotterdam came out of the war stronger, The Netherlands came out stronger.
Why? Because freedom had prevailed.
We had the chance to rebuild the city, in freedom.
And as you can see today, Rotterdam exceeded all expectations.
This week marks a grim milestone - 1000 days of war in Ukraine.
Due to the strength and resilience of the Ukrainian people, Poetin‘s 3 day war has turned into a 3 year war.
For more than thousand days, Ukrainian people have endured the horrors of war.
Every day, they have to deal with vicious attacks and massive air raids, causing children to go to school in bunkers and metro stations…
…ripping families apart, leaving no chance for reunion.
And while we are preparing for Christmas and the holiday season within the comforts of our heated homes, Ukrainians are facing a cold winter, often withouth electricity.
There are no signs that Russia’s aggression will soften.
Therefore, Europe cannot afford any form of naivety.
If we fail to stop the evil in Ukraine, it will creep closer to our borders.
And what we so far only see on the front pages, can make its way to our own front yard.
But it doesn’t need to be this way, we do have the chance to stop this from happening.
And we, each person sitting in this room, are all crucial in this.
Because our industrial capacity determines the extent in which we can support Ukraine, and in which we can sustain our support.
After 1000 days, the war has turned into an industrial war.
Not only a war between armies, but a war between industries.
And look around in this room, and in this building.
Given our capabilities, our knowledge, our innovation, our level of welfare and resources to invest, we should be able to win this.
But we need to stay focused and work closely together.
That’s why it is so important that you are all here today.
This is not only important for our support to Ukraine, it is as important for strengtening our militaries and strengthening NATO.
In other to deter Russia and other agressive regimes, we need to massively bolster our collective defence.
In countries like the the Netherlands, we seems to live in peace, but our reality is far more complicated.
We are not at war, but we are not at peace either.
We live in a grey zone.
Every day we face digital attacks…
…fight fake information schemes…
…and adversaries try to infiltrate and even sabotage our critical infrastructure.
This means that our military needs to be reinforced, and our society and our industries must become more resilient.
Since the large scale invasion I went to Ukraine four times.
A few weeks ago, I traveled to Kharkiv and visited the command center of the Kharkiv brigade.
This is one of the most modern brigades of Ukraine.
And when I visited that command center, it felt that I was visiting a tech startup.
Most Ukrainians working there were civilians, not soldiers, and many of them were even volunteers.
They were looking at big screens, watching images from drones, analyzing data, constantly adapting their actions and tactics.
They told me how very 2-3 weeks, they significantly change and upgrade their ways of operating.
The speed of innovation is incredible.
One of the biggest challenges for all of us, is how to connect Ukraine’s needs and speed of innovation, with the capabilities of our industry.
In the Netherlanders for instance, we recently announced our Action plan Drones, through which we invest 400 million.
In many of the projects that our part of this action plan, Dutch drone developers and manufacturers will work closely together with Ukranian businesses, and also other international partners.
Around half of the budget will be allocated towards the Dutch industry.
A good example is Deltaquad, providing fully functioning ISR-drones.
But also other Dutch companies will support and work with Ukrainian businesses, for example by facilitating and providing missing components in production lines, chips or propellants.
And earlier this week, another dozen of Dutch companies left for the second trade mission aimed at co-production and development.
We also need to work on further integrating the Ukrainian and European defense industry by granting them access to EU funding instruments.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Of course we have to think in the long term too.
I want to strengthen the Dutch armed forces by investing in our capabilities.
We have billions more available, but currently my biggest challenge is to spend that money in a fast and effective way.
I had the budget to spend 2% this year, but I have not been able to spend it.
The speed at which we can turn our demands into concrete orders and deliveries, remains a key obstacle.
Quite often, businesses need to shift their timelines, and deliveries are postponed.
And I don’t want to blame anyone for this, because I know we all work extremely hard and want to keep our promises.
We all need to ask ourselves, both governments and businesses, how can we scale up and speed up?
What is needed to make this truly happen?
This requires something from all of us, and certainly from the government side as well.
We recognize the urgent need for substantial and sustained investment in our defense sector, and particularly the need for financial certainty, long term certainty.
That’s why in The Netherlands we will spend at least 2% of our GDP on Defense.
And I know we said this in the past, but with the new government it is now anchored in our multi-year budgets, and we will put the 2% even into law.
But let me honest, politics by nature will always come with a level of uncertainty. In our democracy we have elections at least every four years, and things can change overnight.
Nevertheless, we need to do everything we can to design programmes that provide financial security, bring together supply and demand internationally, and turn this in to concrete orders and contracts.
We have been working hard on this and we will continue to do.
But this is not enough.
We also need fundamentally different ways of cooperation.
Especially since innovation advances at such high speed and the need to scale up is so urgent.
It’s hard for ministries of Defence to exactly define our demand in 3-5 years let alone 10 years, if we all don’t know where innovation will bring us, for example regarding unmanned systems and AI.
That’s why we need new kinds of partnerships between our ministries of Defence and businesses.
Partnerships that provide more certainty for both sides, but also provide room and flexibility for innovation.
Partnerships that not only look at the best product for the lowest price, but also take into account the resilience of supply chains.
Partnerships in which we share more information, for example by joint-programming, building business-cases together, and sharing risk assessments.
We need to work closely together in order to shape these new partnerships and new structures of collabaration.
It won’t be easy, but given our shared mission and joint interests, I am sure we will be able to succeed.
The Dutch ministry of Defence is committed to make this succesful.
Not only do we invest 2% and do we place large orders for new weapon systems.
We also set up a new platform to shape this new ways of cooperation with businesses and research insitutes, which is called Defport.
And on top of this we dedicate 150 million per year, more than 1 billion euro in total over the next 7 years, to stimulate our industry and innovation, particularly in start-ups and scale-ups.
This will focus on 5 prioritized areas in which The Netherlands has outstanding capabilities, for example unmanned systems and sensors.
Finally, we will also need to reach out more actively to partners in the financial sector, to make sure we get more private partners on board.
I’m glad to see that more and more banks, insurerance companies, pension funds, private equity firms and other public and private funds are stepping forward to contribute to our security.
Ladies and gentlemen,
As the government needs to play its part, I also call upon you, our partners in the defense industry.
Engage actively in public-private partnerships where possible and prioritize your security of supply.
Let’s do what is necessary to raise production, not just price.
You are the innovative power that we need for credible deterrence.
You are the backbone of our security.
As we look beyond today, let us remember that we share a common mission.
Together, we can fuel our freedom by meeting challenges with unity, commitment and innovation.
The Dutch Ministry of Defense is absolutely dedicated to support and strengthen the collaboration with our defence industry.
In these historic times, we stand resolute in our mission to protect what is dear to us.
So let us continue to push boundaries.
If we act strong, smart, and together, we can secure a safer future for our nation, for Ukraine and our allies.
Thank you very much.