The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is holding a summit with heads of state and government from the alliance and Sweden this Tuesday (11) and Wednesday (12), in Vilnius, capital of Lithuania.
According to a communiqué from the military bloc, the main challenges for the “security ecosystem”, the strengthening of NATO and the rapprochement with Ukraine will be discussed.
The leaders of Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea, as well as the European Union, will also attend.
“The decisions we will take in Vilnius will bring Ukraine closer to NATO. Strengthening NATO’s defense and deterrence will also be high on our agenda for the summit,” said Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of the bloc.
At the summit, member countries will also decide on a new agreement for each ally to spend a minimum of 2% of its annual Bruno Domestic Product (GDP) on defense.
In addition, another point that will be discussed is the adhesion of Sweden, which was invited to join the alliance last year, together with Finland.
The Finnish government already completed the integration earlier this year, however, Turkey blocked the Swedish candidacy for several reasons, such as accusations about allowing terrorists to operate in Sweden.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had conditioned his support on Turkey’s entry into the European Union. However, Jens Stoltenberg announced on Monday (10) that Erdogan agreed to forward Sweden’s protocol of accession to the Grand National Assembly as soon as possible and ensure ratification.
In addition to the summit, the NATO Public Forum also takes place in Vilnius, with panel discussions, debates and interactive sessions on topics on the military bloc’s agenda.
This event is jointly organized with organizations such as the Center for Eastern European Studies, the US German Marshall Fund, the Munich Security Conference and the US Atlantic Council.
Ukraine’s participation and meeting with Biden
On Wednesday (12), there will be a meeting between the secretary general Jens Stoltenberg and the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. They will hold a press conference after the talks.
Then there will be a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council, with the presence of heads of state of member countries and Sweden.
In addition, also on Wednesday, Zelensky will meet with the President of the United States, Joe Biden. In May, they met during the G7 summit in Japan.
“The United States continues to do everything possible to strengthen Ukraine’s ability to defend itself,” Biden said at the time.
Recently, the US announced the sending of cluster bombs to Ukraine, to be used in the war against Russia. The country also announced several cash transfers to Ukrainian defense throughout the conflict.
As much as the European nation should be the center of the summit debate, in an interview with CNN last week, Biden declined to join the bloc.
“I don’t think there is unanimity in NATO on whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family right now, at this point, in the middle of a war,” Biden told Fareed Zakaria of the NATO CNN .
*with information from Reuters and the CNN
Source: CNN Brasil
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