A warm welcome to the Missile Dialogue Initiative!

When we created this platform a year ago, we had no idea whether it would take off.

Today – looking at the long list of high-level participants from all over the world – I think the answer is a clear: “yes!”

At a time when dialogue and cooperation are under attack, the MDI hits the nail on the head.

Missile-based power-projection is on the rise. Advances in missile technology have turned North Korea from a regional into a global threat.

Old missile technology is more and more accessible – from the Middle East to Asia and the Pacific.

And new technologies have led to a new level of uncertainty – the starting point for any arms race.

These trends make our world less secure.

And that is why we are here today: To reverse these dangerous developments.

The most alarming one is the blurring of lines between conventional weapons, nuclear arms and new technology. And for decades, the risk of misperceptions and unintended escalation has never been greater.

75 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it is still our duty to mankind to make sure that nuclear weapons are never used again.

We will only succeed in this if we work together.

The MDI was created to do just that: to find realistic solutions to missile challenges – which cannot be done unilaterally.

And to re-think arms control in the light of new technologies.

To make this happen, we are relying on your ideas and your expertise, ladies and gentlemen.

MDI means groundwork.

Groundwork for a new architecture of arms control.

Thank you for laying its foundation!