On Monday, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte spoke at a press conference ahead of the North Atlantic Alliance summit in Ankara. He said that European countries and Canada had already increased their defence spending to around 4 percent of their GDP.
“Last year, European allies and Canada spent nearly 20 percent more on core defence than they had the year before. Looking at 2025 and 2026 combined, that’s US $258 billion in extra investment,” Rutte said. He added that he expected member states to present concrete plans at the upcoming summit for reaching defence spending of 5 percent of GDP.
He described the efforts made so far by NATO’s European members and Canada to increase defence spending as impressive.
“Just one year into a 10-year project, we see that European allies and Canada are already investing around 4 percent of their GDP in defence and security,”
he stressed.
At last year’s NATO summit, Alliance members agreed to increase defence spending to 5 percent of GDP by 2035. Under this framework, 3.5 percent was to be allocated to core defence investment, while the remaining 1.5 percent was to go toward other security- and defence-related purposes.
The NATO chief also announced that Alliance countries would unveil new contracts worth tens of billions of dollars on Tuesday at a forum with arms companies.
The NATO secretary general also declared that “NATO must make sure Ukraine gets what it needs” to continue defending itself. He appealed to Alliance member states to fulfil their commitments in this regard.
“We cannot be naive”
Referring to the test launch of a strategic ballistic missile with a dummy warhead from a Chinese submarine in the Pacific, Rutte said that the Alliance could not afford to be naive about China.
“This is yet again proof that we cannot be naive,” Rutte said, adding: “And we are not.” The NATO secretary general was answering journalists’ questions at a press conference ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara, which begins on Tuesday.
Rutte assessed that China’s support for Russia is crucial in enabling Moscow to continue its aggression against Ukraine.
The NATO summit will take place in Ankara on July 7-8, with the participation of the leaders of 32 member states as well as representatives of countries from the Gulf region and the Asia-Pacific. Poland will be represented in Ankara by President Karol Nawrocki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski.