NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on June 25 that the alliance will unveil tens of billions of dollars in new defense contracts at next month’s summit in the Turkish capital Ankara, as member states seek to expand military production and strengthen collective security capabilities.
Speaking at the Atlantic Council Front Page event in Washington, Rutte said NATO allies must do more to translate their economic strength into military capabilities amid growing global security challenges.
“At the summit, we will have a big defense industry day on the first day and you will see a massive amount of new contracts, MOUs, letters of intent, but also big contracts being signed, which will give a clear signal to our 1 billion citizens in NATO territory,” he said.
“We will announce tens of billions of dollars of new contracts,” he said.
When asked how the July 7-8 Ankara summit compares with other NATO summits, Rutte said it would be “more important” than last year’s gathering in The Hague as the alliance shifts its focus from making pledges to delivering on them.
“It was amazingly important that in The Hague. We agreed on the 5 percent [defense spending target] and to support Ukraine and to ramp up defense production.” However, Rutte said the Ankara summit would focus on translating those pledges into concrete action.
Separately, Rutte hailed Türkiye’s defense company Aselsan.
“This spring, I spoke with talented young engineers at Aselsan, Türkiye’s largest defense electronics company. They are driving Türkiye’s defense industrial revolution, which will benefit every member of our alliance,” he added.
