For Min Meeting Set For 31 May; Sec-Gen Calls For Increase In Def Spending

NATO has confirmed that its next informal meeting of foreign ministers will take place in the Norwegian capital Oslo from 31 May to 1 June, ahead of the NATO leaders summit taking place in Vilnius, Lithuania from 11-12 July.

• Comes as Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg calls for an increase in the minimum level of defence spending for NATO members to rise above the current 2% of GDP. Speaking to Die Welt, Stoltenberg says that "I assume that there will be a new target for defence spending when we meet for the NATO summit [...] The two percent target was initially for a decade, so until 2024, so we have to update it now [...] I assume that it will be a more ambitious target than before, because everybody sees that we need to invest more,"
• A number of NATO members find themselves in difficult fiscal positions, dealing with declining growth/recession but at the same time facing significantly increased threats to security. The outcomes will see either defence spending lagging behind posing a risk to security outlooks, or an increase in debt/deficit-fueled military spending to counter potential Russian threats.