NATO chief calls on members to increase defense spending
NATO has announced that its current priority is for its members to increase the amount they spend on defense.
Ahead of a defense ministerial meeting held in Brussels on Tuesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg noted that member states had increased their spending by $10 billion in 2016, but only five of its 28 members had met the target of assigning two percent of their GDP to defense.
"This makes a difference but it is absolutely vital that we keep up the momentum," he added.
While still campaigning, US President Donald Trump censured NATO countries for not spending enough on the Western military alliance. He even suggested that nations which did not pay enough would not be defended by the US.
He also stated that the NATO was a thing of the past that had become "obsolete."
Stoltenberg stressed that since taking office, Trump has been voicing support for the alliance in public and during two phone conversations.
"He has strongly expressed his strong commitment to NATO, to the transatlantic bond, but at the same time...underlined the importance of fairer burden sharing," he added.
New US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (seen below) was also present in Brussels for the meeting. Stoltenberg stressed that he would be willing to "sit down with him and to discuss many different topics, including burden sharing, but also NATO's role in fighting terrorism."
He added that he is looking forward to a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, while stressing that the alliance must be both firm in the field of defense and maintaining diplomatic ties.
"Especially in difficult times as these we need open political dialogue with Russia," he said.
NATO suspended all ties with Moscow since April 2014 and has also deployed thousands of its troops as well as military hardware near Russian borders.
Russia had previously warned that it would take unspecified measures to respond to the increased activities by the Western military bloc. The armed conflict in Ukraine’s east has soured relations between Russia and the West.
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