NATO chief says allies need ‘more ambitious’ defense investment target

NATO chief says allies need ‘more ambitious’ defense investment target

NATO international locations want a “more ambitious” protection funding goal than the present 2% requirement to satisfy the fashionable safety challenges, the alliance’s chief mentioned on Tuesday.

Speaking at a news convention presenting NATO’s 2022 Annual Report, Jens Stoltenberg mentioned he “will advocate in favor of a more ambitious pledge” of protection funding at NATO leaders’ summit in July in Vilnius, Lithuania than the one allies dedicated to in 2014.

In 2014, NATO international locations agreed to spend 2% of their gross home product on protection by 2024.

According to Stoltenberg, the two% pledge has been perceived “as something we should strive towards, more like a kind of a ceiling.”

“But now we should refer to 2% more as the floor and minimum,” he pressured.

Russia’s full-fledged conflict on Ukraine made the “security situation even more dangerous and even more challenging,” Stoltenberg mentioned.

He welcomed that NATO international locations have been elevating their protection spending for eight consecutive years, however underlined that this tempo of enhance shouldn’t be excessive sufficient.

“We need to do more, we need to do faster” because the world is getting increasingly more harmful, Stoltenberg asserted.

However, solely seven international locations of the 30-member alliance have spent 2% or extra of their GDP on protection final 12 months, in accordance with the Annual Report.

Source: www.anews.com.tr