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NATO Warsaw Summit to focus on defense, deterrence

Xinhua, July 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday outlined the Warsaw Summit agenda, noting that NATO leaders will take key decisions to strengthen the Alliance's defense and deterrence and project stability beyond NATO's borders.

Stoltenberg told a press conference that since the Alliance's last summit in September 2014 in Wales, NATO has implemented the biggest reinforcement of its collective defense since the Cold War.

"We delivered a faster, a stronger, and a more ready Alliance," Stoltenberg added, "We now need to take the next steps. So at our Summit in Warsaw, we will agree to further enhance our military presence in the eastern part of the Alliance."

According to NATO's press release, NATO leaders will agree to deploy four robust, multinational battalions to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Further efforts to strengthen the Alliance's deterrence and defense include a tailored presence in the south-east, based on a multinational brigade in Romania and steps to improve cyber-defense, civil preparedness and the ability to defend against ballistic missile attacks.

Stoltenberg said NATO is talking with Russia to hold another meeting of the NATO-Russia Council shortly after the Warsaw Summit. "We remain open to dialogue with Russia. The NATO-Russia Council has an important role to play as a forum for dialogue and information exchange, to reduce tensions and increase predictability," he said.

Defense spending will be another topic at the Summit. "The Warsaw Summit will renew our commitment to spend more on defense and to spend better," Stoltenberg added.

In addition, NATO leaders will discuss projecting stability beyond border by helping local partners to defend themselves. "We will agree to start training and capacity building inside Iraq, expanding our existing training for Iraqi officers in Jordan," he said.

The deployment of NATO AWACS surveillance aircraft to support the Global Coalition to counter Islamic State will also be approved at the meeting.

Stoltenberg further stressed NATO's continued support for Afghanistan, including a continuation of the Resolute Support Mission into 2017 and continued funding of the Afghan forces until 2020. Endit