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NATO summit to set goal of spending minimum of 2% of GDP on defense — NATO chief

According to Jens Stoltenberg, NATO will increase defense spending by 8.3% in 2023

BRUSSELS, July 7. /TASS/. The NATO leaders, who will gather for a summit in Vilnius next week, will set a goal of investing a minimum of 2% of their countries’ GDP on defense, NASTO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday.

"At the Summit, Allies will set a more ambitious defense investment pledge, to invest a minimum of 2% of Gross Domestic Product annually on defense," he said.

According to Stoltenberg, NATO will increase defense spending by 8.3% in 2023. "Today, we are releasing new defense spending estimates. In 2023, there will be a real increase of 8.3% across European Allies and Canada. This is the biggest increase in decades. And the ninth consecutive year of increases in our defense spending," he said. "So European Allies and Canada will have invested over 450 billion extra US dollars since we agreed our defense investment pledge in 2014."

At a summit in Wales in 2014, NATO countries made a decision to set a target of spending 2% of national GDP on defense. Presenting a regular annual report on NATO activities, Stoltenberg said in March 2024 that only seven out of 30 NATO countries had reached the target. According to the report, defense spending of more that 2% were in Greece (3.54%), the United States (3.46%). Lithuania (2.47%), Poland (2.42%), the United Kingdom (2.16%), Estonia (2.12%), and Lithuania (2.07%). Germany spent 1.40% of its GDP on defense. Spain (1.09%) and Luxembourg (0.62%) were at the bottom of the list.

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