NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg participated virtually in the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Monday (May 15), in a conversation with former NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, founder and chairman of the Alliance of Democracies Foundation. They discussed preparations for the NATO Summit in July, including NATO's support for Ukraine, increasing defence spending, and engaging with partners in the Indo-Pacific region.
Mr Stoltenberg said he was confident that NATO leaders would send a clear message of support to Ukraine in Vilnius. He said, "I expect that we will agree a multi-year program, where we will work on how to help Ukraine transition from Soviet-era standards, doctrines and equipment to NATO standards and doctrines and equipment, and become fully interoperable with NATO." He added that, while we don't know how Russia's war of aggression will end, "what we do know is that when it ends it is extremely important that we are able to prevent history from repeating itself."
The Secretary General also said that he expected an ambitious decision on defence investment at the Vilnius Summit, with 2% of gross domestic production as a floor, not a ceiling. He mentioned that he had invited to the Summit the leaders of NATO's partners in the Indo-Pacific region - Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea - because the challenges we face are global.
