At the upcoming NATO summit Slovakia will confirm an increased investment in defence, its interest in continuing to participate in NATO's strengthened presence in the Baltics and Afghanistan and support for the open door policy and pro-Western aspirations of Ukraine and Georgia. This stems from a document to be discussed by the government over the coming days. Slovakia has promised to increase its defence spending to reach 2% of GDP by 2024. It has committed to providing a heavy mechanised brigade and an interest in continuing without interruption in participating in NATO's strengthened presence in the Baltics. The summit will be held in Brussels from 11 to 12 July.
Slovakia wants to utilise the capacities of its domestic defence industry to the fullest in carrying out the EuroArtillery project, said Defence Minister Peter Gajdoš (Slovak National Party/SNS) at a meeting of EU defence and foreign affairs ministers in Luxembourg on Monday. "At the same time, this is a capability that both the EU and NATO lack, so it represents a significant contribution towards European security as well," claimed Gajdoš, adding that the purpose of the Slovak project is to develop a precision, long-range mobile artillery platform for use in multinational operations. The cooperation between EU and NATO was on the agenda on of the meeting too with the Slovak diplomacy supporting close cooperation between the two mainly in increasing resistance against hybrid threats.
