The Secretary General also confirmed that more Allies are meeting the guideline of spending 2 % of GDP on defence. This year, 9 Allies will meet the guideline, up from only 3 Allies just a few years ago.
The majority of Allies have plans in place to reach 2% by 2024. Mr Stoltenberg said: “Allies are also investing billions more in new capabilities and contributing to NATO deployments around the world. So we are on the right track but we cannot be complacent. We must keep up the momentum.”
NATO Heads of State and Government will meet in London on the 3rd-4th of December and the Secretary General said he expected they will take decisions to continue NATO’s adaptation, including more improvements to the readiness of Allied forces; recognising space as an operational domain; and updating NATO’s action plan against terrorism. Leaders are also due to have a strategic discussion on Russia, the future of arms control, as well as the rise of China.
Mr Stoltenberg said: “Our Alliance is active, agile and adapting for the future. Standing together, North America and Europe represent half the world’s economic and military might. In uncertain times, we 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.”
Great words and promising news. Let’s keep cutting edge and ahead of the competition.
Go NATO
If 2 major European countries continue to fall short on this figure, it is shameful. I don’t think we need to name them, they both know who they are…….
Come on give us a clue ??