NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska on Monday reiterated the need to turn alliance commitments into action ahead of the Ankara summit that will be held on July 7 and 8.
"In just six weeks' time, allied heads of state and government will meet in Ankara. The secretary general of NATO has a clear message for the NATO summit; we have to turn commitments into action now," Shekerinska said during the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Spring Session in Lithuania.
Highlighting that the threat posed by Russia to the alliance will not vanish even with the end of the war, she noted that the role of NATO is to never let its guard down.
"In a more dangerous and volatile world, we must invest in our security, and we have to ramp up our defenses, all of us. And we have to do it together," Shekerinska underscored.
Recalling that allies had agreed to spend 5% of GDP on defense by 2035, she said that the Ankara summit will focus on "turning cash into combat-ready capabilities."
"It's a bit like the Olympic motto: it has to be faster, it has to be higher, it has to be stronger, and we have to do it together," she further said.
Shekerinska also pointed to the need to share the burden of defense more fairly through a "more balanced relationship."
"America has made clear that it expects its allies to be able to step up and carry greater responsibility for Europe's conventional defense, backed by US power. This is exactly what we see happening now, and this is exactly the goal that we have for the future, and for Ankara," she added.
Shekerinska said that the Ankara summit will also center not only on investing more but also having the right warfighting capabilities. She further stressed the need to produce faster and at scale.
"My last point is on Ukraine, another priority for the NATO summit in Ankara. Ukraine's security is directly linked with ours. This is a sentence that we all repeat, because it is true," Shekerinska added.
