President Duda: I do not see factors which could weaken NATO
PR dla Zagranicy
Roberto Galea
18.01.2017 10:10
Polish President Andrzej Duda has said that he does not see any factors that can weaken NATO, following comments by US President-elect Donald Trump calling the Alliance “obsolete”.
Photo: Flickr.com/NATO
“NATO is doing well, and I do not see any factors which could lead to a weakening of NATO,” Duda said on Wednesday during an official visit to Israel.
During a recent press conference, US President-elect Trump said that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was “obsolete”, and suggested that his office could introduce changes to the structure of the organisation, which was set up in 1949.
Poland, which joined in 1999, is one of only a few member countries which contribute the stipulated two percent of GDP on defence. The country looks to NATO as a guarantor of security amid fears of possible Russian aggression.
President Duda, referring to the decision of the NATO Summit in Warsaw 2016 on increasing the presence of the Alliance in Central and Eastern Europe, added that “now we have US troops in Poland.”
“We already welcomed American troops in the country, and we will soon hold American-Polish military exercises,” he said, adding that the increased NATO presence in this part of Europe is "a fact".
“This is what most interests us,” Duda said. (rg/pk)