NATO chief calls allies to spend more on defense

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday said NATO would take important decisions to strengthen collective defense and enhance cooperation with its partners at the forthcoming defense ministers meeting.

Addressing a press briefing on the agenda of this week's ministerial meetings, Stoltenberg stressed these decisions would pave the way for the Warsaw Summit in July.

"We will agree to deploy, by rotation, four robust multinational battalions in the Baltic states and in Poland," said Stoltenberg, adding these battalions would be part of a much bigger shift in NATO's defense and deterrence posture in the eastern part of the alliance.

He stressed that NATO allies must spend more on defense to sustain this shift in NATO's defense posture.

Noting 2015 was the first year after a long decline when the alliance registered a small increase in defense spending, Stoltenberg said, "our estimates for 2016 show a further increase."

He said NATO defense ministers would also discuss how NATO could expand its efforts to project stability beyond its borders, strengthening local forces in the fight against terrorism.

"We will also consider providing AWACS surveillance planes to support the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL," said the NATO chief.

He added ministers would assess what more NATO could do in the wider Mediterranean Sea, for instance in support of the European Union's anti-migrant smuggling operation, Sophia. Endit