Poland set to increase defence spending: PM
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
25.08.2017 12:19
Poland is determined to steadily increase its defence spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2030, up from 2 percent today, Prime Minister Beata Szydło said after talks with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Warsaw on Friday.
Polish PM Beata Szydło (right) and NATO's Jens Stoltenberg during a meeting in Warsaw on Friday. Photo: PAP/Marcin Obara
According to officials, Poland is one of only five NATO countries -- alongside the United States, Britain, Greece and Estonia -- that meet the military alliance’s target of allies spending at least 2 percent of their GDP on defence.
In the coming years the government in Warsaw plans to earmark even more money for defence, Szydło told reporters after meeting Stoltenberg.
"We spend the required 2 percent of GDP on defence; a bill has already been submitted to the lower house of parliament in which we undertake to increase our spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2030,” she said.
NATO’s Stoltenberg welcomed the promise and praised Poland’s commitment to decisions made by the alliance’s leaders at their summits in Newport, Wales in 2014 and Warsaw last year.
He also thanked Poland's authorities for sending troops to NATO missions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo. (str)
Source: IAR