The leaders of the Western military alliance meet today in Washington.
NATO’s annual summit, which runs until July 11, coincides with the 75th anniversary of its founding and takes place while the war in Ukraine continues.
According to the general secretary of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, the Washington summit will focus on three main topics.
The first is strengthening the defense. Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, NATO’s main priority has been to strengthen defenses to avoid war. This agenda was transformed two years ago, after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
NATO has agreed on a new strategic concept at the Madrid summit, which was based on existing defense strengthening efforts.
And, the Washington Summit will now focus on the implementation of these plans, to deter armed attack and protect the alliance.
Since Madrid, NATO allies have made progress in implementation – increasing defense spending, adding high readiness forces, modernizing command and control, transforming collective defense exercises and successfully integrating new allies: Finland and Sweden.
However, the question is whether NATO is ready to fight and thereby prevent a protracted war, like the one in Ukraine?
For this reason, it is important to strengthen the “European pillar” of NATO.
The second topic of the summit will be the support of Ukraine’s efforts to defend itself against the Russian invasion.
And, the third topic of the summit will be the strengthening of NATO’s global partnerships.
