Alliance members will sign a fresh commitment for the defence industry," announced Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary-General of NATO, during the Defence manufacture Forum, starting the Alliance summit in Washington. another topics of the three-day gathering are: assistance from Ukraine, strengthening partnership with the Indo-Pacific countries and strengthening NATO's defence potential.
– We know that there is no way to safe a strong defence without a strong defence industry," said Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary-General of NATO, during the Defence manufacture Forum organised in the framework of the Alliance summit beginning in Washington. The yearly gathering on the 75th anniversary of the North Atlantic Pact is attended by leaders of all 32 associate States, of which Sweden, as well as representatives of NATO cooperating countries. Poland is represented by president Andrzej Duda, accompanied by Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defence, and Radosław Sikorski, Head of the Ministry of abroad Affairs.
As stressed in his speech, the outgoing Secretary of NATO will replace him in the autumn Mark Rutte, erstwhile Prime Minister of the Netherlands), the defence manufacture not only produces weapons, ammunition and defence systems, but is besides crucial to maintaining technological advantage over opponents. He besides talked about the request for more investment in defence. As he recalled, 10 years ago at the NATO summit in Wales, associate States made a commitment that all allies would spend 2% of their GDP on defence.
– At the time, only 3 allies did so, and this year 23 NATO countries devote at least 2% of GDP to defence, and the another allies promised to do so soon," Stoltenberg said. He stressed that this change added billions to the defence budgets of the Alliance states, many of which were allocated to contracts in the defence industry. However, the Secretary-General pointed out that 2% present is not a ceiling to be reached, but a minimum basis, as defence spending will proceed to increase.
Jens Stoltenberg besides announced that during the summit, the Alliance members would sign a fresh commitment to the arms industry, making the manufacture in Europe and North America stronger, more innovative and able to produce on a large scale. The first component of this commitment is increased expenditure on reinforcement. "The second component is spending money in a better way, investing together," said the secretary-general.
As Stoltenberg explained, allies request to be wiser at arms spending by choosing to buy together to enable larger and long-term contracts to be signed. The F-35 fighter program, which is produced in the U.S. and 8 another Alliance countries, was an example. He besides informed that NATO present signed a $700 million contract to increase the production of Stinger anti-aircraft missiles in associate states. They were 1 of the first types of weapons supplied Ukrainians in defence of the Russian invasion.
An crucial component of the commitment, as stated by the NATO chief, is besides to cooperate with defence industries in Ukraine and with 4 NATO partners from the Indo-Pacific area: Japan, Australia, fresh Zealand and South Korea. “The main task of NATO is to prevent war and to keep peace, as well as to defend allies, and we win due to the fact that for 75 years there has been no armed attack on any associate of the Alliance,” Stoltenberg added.
Kathleen Hicks, the Deputy Secretary of defence of the United States, spoke of the request for faster and more liable implementation of fresh technologies wherever they may have military value. In her opinion, the allies now request a more strategical approach to expanding their industrial capacity and production in the field of collective defence, in order to guarantee at a faster pace and on a larger scale a reliable fight against capabilities and equipment.
Member of the Forum, the head of the MON Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz told journalists that the Alliance must confirm its unity and strength during the summit. – The 75th anniversary is simply a time of celebration, but celebrating without applicable solutions would be ineffective – said the Polish Minister of Defence. Deputy Prime Minister pointed out that Poland after 25 years in the Alliance is 1 of the countries that invest most in defence.
As Kosiniak-Kamysz calculated, Polish MON signed respective agreements present that will strengthen our security. The first 1 afraid a joint consortium of NATO states, which would buy seamines and the second 1 would be cyberspace security. The Minister besides signed an agreement on Poland's accession to the Alliance Permanent Surveillance from Space (APSS) project. The parties to the agreement were 17 countries, including the US. It will enable Polish armed forces to access data from another participants of the initiative, as well as information from commercial suppliers. The aim of the project, initiated in 2023, is to improve situation awareness in the Natovian institutions and associate States. The head of the MON besides added that the summit is to be established NATO-Ukraine Analysis, Training and Education Centre.
According to the announcement, the key findings of the summit launched present are to strengthen the Alliance's possible for deterrence and defence, the request for associate States to increase defence spending, assistance to Ukraine and global partnerships. A gathering of the North Atlantic Council is scheduled next day at the level of the Heads of State and Government, and a gathering of this Council with partners from Indo-Pacific and the European Union, as well as the NATO-Ukraine Council, is scheduled for Thursday. The summit will last until Thursday 11 July.
