Thanks to its “strong economic growth”, Croatia will invest more in defense. After a meeting with the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance Mark Ruttem, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovič announced this through the X social network X. According to the report by Hina, TASR reports this.
“Croatia as a responsible NATO member supports the stability and European perspective of southeast Europe. Through constant investments in defense capacities, it gives Croatia is currently two percent of its GDP in defense, with 30 to 40 percent intended to modernize the armed forces, ” Written Plenkovič on the network X.
The Croatian Prime Minister is currently attending a Spring NATO parliamentary meeting in Dayton, where Thirty years ago, they signed an agreement to end the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“We have discussed NATO’s plans to increase defense spending, strengthening European defense and transatlantic relations. Thanks to its strong economic growth, Croatia will be able to increase investment in defense, ” added Plenkovič. The statement of the Minister is not clear the exact amount of how much more Croatia plans to spend in defense.
Rutte this month in a letter to the leader of 32 alliance states suggested that by 2032 to increase defense expenses to 3.5 percent of GDPas far as military equipment is concerned, and another 1.5 percent of GDP have allocated defense and safety items, such as cyber security, infrastructure and other areas.
The Allies in the North Atlantic Alliance committed themselves to spend two percent of their GDP in 2014. However, US President Donald Trump urges Member States to contribute up to five percent of GDP, and in safety, they have become less dependent on the US. Of all the members of the Alliance, Poland is the closest to this goal, which wants to put 4.7 percent of GDP this year in its defense.
