Foreign Secretary underlines UK commitment to NATO

• The Foreign Secretary spoke this week at the virtual NATO Foreign Ministers’ meeting on the future of NATO.
• He underlined the strengths of the Alliance and the need for it to evolve to meet new challenges and take action against malicious state activity.
• The recent £24.1 billion increase in UK defence spending commitment cements our position as NATO’s largest European contributor.

The Foreign Secretary has underlined his support for NATO this week, as he spoke to Allies across Europe and North America.

He also expressed strong support for the work of NATO’s ‘Reflection Process’ Group whose report proposed concrete ways the Alliance could continue to adapt to face future challenges.

The Secretary General will now develop these recommendations into a package of proposals for leaders of NATO countries to consider at their next Summit in 2021.

The Foreign Secretary also used the Foreign Ministers’ meeting to call for the Alliance to continue to take a collective voice against malicious state action, citing NATO’s swift collective response on the Navalny poisoning as a leading example.

This meeting follows the announcement that the UK will increase defence spending by £24.1 billion over the next four years – the biggest single investment in UK defence capabilities since the Cold War. The budget cements the UK’s position as the biggest European contributor to NATO, and the second biggest in the alliance. It will also allow the UK to maintain the wide spectrum of capabilities it offers to NATO, including the Carrier Strike Group.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said:

NATO is the most successful alliance in history and at a time when our adversaries are operating in the space between peace and war – launching cyber-attacks and spreading disinformation – it is more important than ever.

The UK supports NATO’s work to continually adapt to face new threats and challenges. This includes responding to technological innovations, the threats from cyber and hybrid warfare and the need to combine our political and military tools to have the greatest impact.

NATO Allies also discussed Russia’s military build-up, the importance of effective arms control, China, NATO’s training mission in Afghanistan and Black Sea security.

Allies were joined in some of these session by NATO Partners, including Australia, Japan, South Korea, Ukraine, Georgia, Sweden, Finland and the EU. The NATO 2030 report has now been published, outlining proposals for further reform of the alliance to address new and emerging security threats.