JAKARTA - NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Monday he assumed alliance members would approve an extensive defense spending target of 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) during a summit in The Hague, Netherlands next month.
"I assume that in The Hague we will agree a high defense spending target of a total of 5 percent," Rutte said at a meeting of the NATO Parliament at Dayton.
"Let's just say it's 5 percent, but I'm not going to say how much it's divided individually, but it's going to be well above 3 percent when it comes to hard spending, and that's also going to be a target of defense-related spending," he added.
Reuters reported earlier this month that Secretary General Rutte had proposed NATO members to increase defense spending to 3.5 percent of their GDP, and 1.5 percent further on broader security-related items to meet US President Donald Trump's request for a 5 percent target.
NATO intends to approve these new targets at the summit of alliance leaders in The Hague on June 24-25.
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Separately, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said earlier this month, "Secretary General Rutte has sent a letter to all NATO members to say he expects a commitment at the NATO summit of 3.5 percent for major military spending, which will be achieved by 2032, and 1.5 percent for related expenses such as infrastructure, cybersecurity, and similar things to be achieved by 2032".
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