President Nicuşor Dan participated on June 2 in the B9 Summit in Vilnius, where he announced that Romania is committed to reaching, within seven years, spending 5% of GDP on defense, Monitorulapararii.ro reported. The target will be formalised during the next NATO summit in the Hague three weeks from now.
The 5%-of-GDP target will include direct investments in the army and infrastructure works that will improve military mobility.
President Dan explained that part of the military spending would be of a more general nature, and the rise in the defence budget would be gradual.
“So, as I said, 5% means 3.5% [direct defence spending] plus 1.5% [indirect defence spending]. Part of that 1.5% are things that we do anyway. For example, you know that we are going to have a military drill in Cincu this fall. In order for the troops to be able to deploy, we need to carry out construction works, such as the widening of streets and the construction of bridges. This is part of the 1.5% expenses. And then, from 2.3% (how much Romania currently spends) to 3.5%, divided by 7 (number of years), it means an increase of 0.2 each year,” he said.
iulian@romania-insider.com
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