NATO will increase its combat-ready forces sharply – to over 300,000 soldiers, says Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
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The announcement came at a press conference ahead of the alliance’s summit in Madrid, which is later this week.
There he presented what will be the most important issues that the heads of state in the 30 countries will decide on.
Stoltenberg said he expected the meeting to contribute to further support for Ukraine, and that NATO’s presence along the alliance’s eastern border would be significantly strengthened.
– Our combat-ready forces will be increased to up to 300,000, said Stoltenberg.
This means, among other things, a sharp strengthening of the forces along NATO’s border to the east.
– The troops will train together so that they know the local conditions, the facilities on site and the equipment that has been deployed. This way they will be able to react quickly and seamlessly to any security challenge, Stoltenberg said.
China threat
He also presented figures showing that 2022 for the eighth year in a row shows an increase in the use of funds for defense in the member countries.
– We will also agree to invest even more in our common security, says Stoltenberg.
Nine of the countries are now reaching the target of spending two per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defense. Poland and the Baltic countries are among those that have increased defense spending the most, in relation to their total economy.
For Norway, the figure is “only” 1.55 percent, despite increased defense budgets. The reason is that Norway’s enormous oil and gas revenues mean that GDP is growing even more than the increase in spending on defense.
China threat
Stoltenberg also says that the NATO summit in Madrid this week will do something historic: put the threat from China on the agenda for the first time.
“The meeting will address China for the first time, and the challenges Beijing represents for our security, our interests and our values,” said Stoltenberg.
But Russia’s attack on Ukraine is still the main theme:
“I expect that the meeting will establish that the Allies see Russia as the biggest and most direct threat to our security,” Stoltenberg said at the press conference in Brussels ahead of the meeting.
Sweden and Finland
The Secretary General also said that he hopes to make progress in Sweden’s and Finland’s membership applications – while taking into account Turkey’s security needs.
– We have worked hard since they applied, to take them into the alliance as quickly as possible. At the same time, we must take Turkey into account. That is why we have intensified our work on this in recent weeks, and we are glad that the Turkish President will meet the Finnish President and the Swedish Prime Minister will meet me tomorrow. The goal of the meeting is to get closer to a solution, says Stoltenberg.
Also read: Announces comprehensive changes when the entire Nordic region is in NATO
As VG wrote on Sunday, significant progress has been made on the heated issue in the last couple of weeks, and work is underway on a joint document between the three countries.
Turkey has set one temporarily stops for Sweden – and thus also Finland – application to join NATO. Turkey claims that Sweden supports terrorists, and demands, among other things, that Sweden stop cooperating with the Kurdish militia YPG in northern Syria.
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