GENEVA

NATO "highly values" the partnership with the Indo-Pacific partners, including Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and Japan, the alliance chief said on Wednesday.

"In a more dangerous and unpredictable world, it is even more obvious that security is not regional, security is global. What happens in your region (Indo-Pacific) matters for Europe and what happens in Europe matters for you," Jens Stoltenberg said, along with representatives of Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea.

Stoltenberg's remarks came ahead of his meeting with the Indo-Pacific partners on the second day of the NATO foreign ministers meeting.

"I think the war in Ukraine demonstrates this very clearly with its global ramifications," he said, and added that the fact that China and Russia are standing closer together makes it "just even more important" that NATO allies and highly valued partners are standing together.

He welcomed the opportunity to meet with highly valued partners, and that they joined a NATO summit first-time last year.

The NATO chief also invited all to the approaching NATO summit in Vilnius in June, and said: "That will further strengthen our partnership."