NATO will announce tens of billions of dollars in new defense contracts at a July summit in Ankara as allies seek to turn higher defense spending into military production, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Thursday.
Rutte said the July 7 and 8 summit in Turkey’s capital would focus on defense industry cooperation, weapons production and support for Ukraine, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
“We need to ensure that we are translating our economic might into military capabilities,” Rutte said at an Atlantic Council event in Washington.
He said NATO would use the summit to announce contracts, memoranda of understanding and letters of intent as defense companies across the alliance increase production.
“At the summit, we will have a big defense industry day on the first day,” Rutte said, adding that the announcements would send a message to NATO’s 1 billion citizens that the alliance is taking steps required for its defense.
Rutte also cited Turkey’s defense industry, saying the country has about 3,000 defense companies operating across NATO territory.
He praised ASELSAN, Turkey’s largest defense electronics company, saying young engineers there were helping drive a defense industry push that would benefit the alliance.
Rutte said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would attend the Ankara summit and that NATO would show Ukraine that its support continues.
“We expect to show him and all Ukrainians that our support endures, and remind President Putin that we are not going anywhere,” he said.
Rutte said the Ankara summit could be “even more important” than last year’s NATO summit in The Hague because it would focus on implementing earlier commitments, including higher defense spending and production.
“In the end, Putin is not afraid of commitments, he’s afraid of implementing those commitments,” Rutte said.