Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
Allied defense ministers will meet at NATO headquarters in Brussels today, Thursday. The meeting will be chaired by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. The ministers are expected to evaluate developments in the situation regarding the Russian war on Ukraine and ways to provide NATO support to Kiev and coordinate positions in this regard, in addition to the alliance’s continued steps on a strategic path. Deterrence, defense, joint NATO exercises conducted by member states, defense spending, as well as other files related to the internal affairs of the alliance, as well as international and regional files, including cooperation between NATO and the European Union.
  The development of defense spending by NATO countries is scheduled to be discussed during the meeting of defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, with the participation of 20 countries. Their support for the Ukrainian war efforts will also be discussed. Yesterday, Wednesday, a meeting of the International Contact Group was held to coordinate arms aid to Ukraine.
Today, Sweden's accession to NATO will also be discussed, which is hampered by the Hungarian Parliament's failure to ratify the decision
Germany informed NATO that its planned defense spending would reach at least 2% of GDP, an unprecedented rise.
According to media reports, the German government has allocated $73.41 billion for defense spending this year. This is a record number for Germany, and represents 2.01% of GDP, according to current NATO forecasts.
Yesterday, Wednesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg issued a report with the alliance’s latest defense spending figures, which show an unprecedented increase between European allies and Canada.
As explained in a statement issued by NATO, Stoltenberg announced, in his review of the defense ministers’ meetings, that the European allies and Canada have pledged more than $600 billion to defense since they reached the defense investment agreement in 2014.
In 2023, NATO witnessed a real increase of 11 percent in defense spending across European allies and Canada, which the Secretary-General described as an “unprecedented rise,” expressing his expectations that the 18 allied countries would spend two percent of their gross domestic product on defense in 2023. 2024, a six-fold increase since 2014, when only three allies met the target.
Stoltenberg said that NATO allies in Europe are expected to invest a total of 380 billion US dollars in the defense sector during the year 2024, noting that this percentage amounts to two percent of the total gross domestic product.
The NATO Secretary-General added that there is real progress in this regard, and that European allies are spending more on defense. However, some allies still have a way to go based on the agreement reached at the Vilnius summit, which stipulates that all allies invest a minimum of two percent.