Off the wire
• Chinese cities report less PM2.5 pollution in Jan.-Nov. period  • Kenyan police deny claims of extrajudicial killings  • Ethiopia, Denmark sign renewable power generation agreement  • Polish president signs law on withdrawing from ICGEB  • Over 50 pct of Poles against admitting refugees  • Macedonia army able to cope with refugees wave  • 8 arrested in counterfeit operation in Italy: Europol  • 1st Ld-Writethru: Xi calls for strengthened ideological work in colleges  • Alibaba to help Thailand's e-commerce development  • S. Sudan's traditional chiefs demand role toward conflict resolution  
You are here: 　 Home

NATO chief hails Estonia for meeting defense spending target

Xinhua, December 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Thursday praised Estonia for being one of the allies that is spending 2 percent of GDP on defense.

Welcoming Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid to NATO headquarters, Stoltenberg thanked her for Estonia's contributions to NATO.

Estonia leads by example on defense spending, which will contribute to a fair burden sharing among allies and thereby strengthening the transatlantic bond, Stoltenberg said.

He also voiced NATO's commitment to secure Estonia, saying that at the Warsaw Summit NATO Allies decided to enhance its forward presence in the three Baltic countries and Poland.

"We are on track when it comes to the deployment of the battalion, a multinational battalion to Estonia, " he added.

Five of 28 NATO member states met the alliance's goal of spending 2 percent of their GDP on defense in 2015, including the United States, UK, Greece, Estonia and Poland. Endit