Slovakia to raise defence spending

At a two-day meeting of defence ministers of 29 NATO member states in Brussels, Slovakia confirmed the fulfilment of its budgetary commitments for the defence ministry, the participation in PESCO activities and NATO's activities in the Baltic states and the continuation of missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, Defence Minister Peter Gajdos announced on Wednesday. Gajdos expressed his satisfaction that the Slovak government is fulfilling its commitments from the previous NATO summits in Wales, Warsaw and Brussels and assured the allies that the country will spend 1.6 percent of GDP on defence by 2020, with this rising to two percent of GDP by the target year 2024.