NATO Defence Ministers discuss defence spending

Meeting in Brussels today (25 October 2019), NATO Defence Ministers addressed higher defence spending, burden sharing in collective defence, and the progress made in current NATO initiatives. The future of the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan was high on the agenda.

Defence Minister Peter Gajdoš said: “Slovakia is a stable and responsible member of the Alliance, which is why we insist on the need to deliver on our commitment to spending 2% of GDP on defence. This is important not only for procurement of new assets and infrastructure development, but also for sustainment of our troops on missions and operations abroad. And, last but not least, for the security of us all.”

During the meeting, Ministers paid special attention to the Resolute Support Mission (RSM) in Afghanistan. On RSM, Ministers agreed that NATO’s presence has a positive impact on stability in the region.

The Defence Ministers of the countries contributing to NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) in Latvia, with Canada as eFP Framework Nation, met on the margins of the ministerial meeting. Currently, 152 SVK personnel are serving with the Canadian-led eFP BG Latvia. Ministers also signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a Regional Special Operations Component Command (R-SOCC).