NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg informed the country members on the upcoming increases in allied defence spending, NATO press release said. In uncertain times, the Alliance countries should cooperate as tightly as never before.
Stoltenberg’s speech on Friday had a key message to all the NATO state members: their defence spending will definitely be increased. According to NATO boss, in 2019, defence spending across European Allies and Canada increased in real terms by 4.6 %, making this the fifth consecutive year of growth.
Despite such a trend, by the end of 2020, the allies will have invested $130 billion more since 2016. Thus, the accumulated increase in defence spending by the end of 2024 will be $400 billion, said the Secretary-General.
“This is unprecedented progress and it is making NATO stronger,’ Mr Stoltenberg said.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s chief also confirmed that more members are meeting the guideline of spending 2 % of GDP on defence, while the majority of them have plans in place to reach 2 % by 2024.
Stoltenberg: NATO should invest in new capabilities and innovations
According to Stoltenberg, NATO states members are investing billions more in new capabilities and innovations. They also should contribute to Alliance deployments around the world.
“So we are on the right track but we cannot be complacent. We must keep up the momentum,” NATO chief concluded.
NATO Heads of State and Government will meet in London on 3-4 December and the Secretary-General said he expected they will take decisions to continue NATO’s adaptation, including more improvements to the follows:
- readiness of Allied forces;
- recognising space as an operational domain;
- updating NATO’s counter-terrorism Action Plan.
Additionally, Emmanuel Macron insists on having a strategic discussion on Russia, the future of arms control, as well as the rise of China.
In his speech, NATO chief has stressed that Alliance is active, agile and adapting for the future. Both North America and Europe represent half the global economic and military might. It is pretty logically that under uncertain circumstances, the members need strong multinational institutions like NATO.
“So we must continue to strengthen them every day, to keep all our citizens safe. And that is what we are going to do when Leaders meet next week,” Stolttenberg said.
