Lithuania agrees to increase its defence spending to 2 percent by 2020 3003141

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Defence & Security News - Lithuania
 
 
Sunday, March 30, 2014 10:30 AM
 
Lithuania agrees to increase its defence spending to 2 percent by 2020.
Lithuania's policymakers reached an agreement to increase its defence spending to 2 percent of GDP by 2020. President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite on Thursday pressed the main national political parties to agree on increasing the country's defence expenditure, leading to a fast reached agreement within two days which is rarely seen in past years.
     
Lithuania's policymakers reached an agreement to increase its defence spending to 2 percent of GDP by 2020. President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite on Thursday pressed the main national political parties to agree on increasing the country's defence expenditure, leading to a fast reached agreement within two days which is rarely seen in past years.
Dalia Grybauskaite, President of the Republic of Lithuania
     

"With understanding of the significance of NATO for us, I believe that this broad agreement, inclusive in terms of both energy and cyber security, also European values such as human rights and respect of national minorities, will be implemented successfully and coherently," said Gediminas Kirkilas, deputy speaker of the Seimas (the parliament), to local media.

"It is necessary to renew without any delay the national agreement among all political parties on foreign and security policies, and also on adequate finances for defence," Grybauskaite said on March 27 in her State of the Nation Address in the Seimas.

Lithuania was ready to meet the 2 percent of GDP defence expenditure target in the next five years, Grybauskaite insisted.

Lithuania's current budget for defence equals 0.8 percent of GDP and is one among the smallest in NATO. The country's prior target was to increase military budget by 0.1 percent to 0.2 percent a year and to reach 2 percent of GDP as late as by 2026.