NATO summit 2021

documentation NATO Summit 2021

(Ed/Hartmut Bühl, Paris) On 14th June, at the 2021 NATO Summit in Brussels, NATO leaders discussed a wide range of political and military issues as well as the future of NATO. The agenda included nine main decisions and the support of the NATO 2030 initiative.

Key decisions 1. NATO 2030 was at the heart of discussions. Based on a variety of inputs from experts, civil society and the private sector, NATO Secretary General Jens

Stoltenberg presented recommendations which formed the bedrock of the

NATO 2030 agenda. 2. US President Joe Biden succeeded to re-establish lost confidence of NATO leaders in the US ally by underpinning the

US’ full commitment to NATO’s Article 5 (defence). 3. Furthermore, there was no doubt about reinforcing the Alliance’s unity, broadening its approach to security and contributing to safeguarding the rules-based international order. 4. NATO leaders took decisions to prepare

NATO for the challenges of today and tomorrow, including Russia’s pattern of aggressive behaviour and the rise of China, terrorism, cyber-attacks and disruptive technologies, and security implications of climate change.

NATO leaders agreed on 9 proposals: 1 - Deepen political consultations in NATO by broadening them, including an additional yearly meeting of foreign ministers and more consultations with Allied capitals in different formats.

2 - Strengthen deterrence and defence by reaffirming their strong commitment to Allied deterrence and defence. Allies will continue to aim to meet, by 2024, the NATO-agreed guideline of spending 2% of Gross Domestic Product on defence and 20% of annual defence spending on major new equipment.

3 - Improve resilience by agreeing to take a broader and more coordinated approach to it, including through a strengthened resilience commitment, developing resilience objectives to guide nationally tailored goals and implementation plans. 4 - Preserve the technological edge by launching a Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) to boost transatlantic cooperation on critical technologies and to establish a NATO Innovation Fund to invest in startups working on emerging and disruptive technologies.

5 - Uphold the rules-based international order by strengthening NATO’s relationships with like-minded partners and international organisations – including the European Union – and to forge new engagements, including in Asia, Africa and Latin America. 6 - Boost training and capacity-building by stepping up NATO’s efforts to assist its partners’ capacity-building in areas like counter-terrorism, stabilisation, countering hybrid attacks, crisis management, peacekeeping, and defence reform.

7 - Combat and adapt to climate change by endorsing an ambitious new NATO Climate Change and Security Action Plan to help NATO and its Allies develop clear awareness, adaptation and mitigation measures, and committed to significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions from military activities and installations.

8 - Develop the next Strategic Concept by inviting the NATO Secretary General to lead the process to develop it. This key document describes the overarching security environment in which the Alliance will operate.

9 - Invest in NATO by ensuring the Alliance has the right resources, both through national defence expenditure and NATO common funding.

Official portrait of NATO Allies

photo: © NATO

“By agreeing on the NATO 2030 initiative, leaders have made the decision to make our Alliance stronger and better fit for the future.”

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General

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