皇冠体育app

This week NATO鈥檚 Secretary General travels to London. He鈥檒l be meeting the Prime Minister and Defence Secretary, among others. 皇冠体育appy鈥檒l have plenty to talk about.

皇冠体育app Prime Minister entered office just a few days after NATO鈥檚 Warsaw Summit last July. She confirmed in Parliament a few weeks later the UK鈥檚 commitment to NATO, including to continuing to meet the target of spending 2% of GDP on defence. We鈥檙e part of a small club of Allies that do that. But it鈥檚 a club that is growing and needs to grow, given the range of challenges we face.

NATO has a formidable 鈥渢o do鈥� list as we approach the end of 2016. As our leaders agreed at Warsaw, we are modernising our approach to collective defence and deterrence, not least given the challenge posed by Russia鈥檚 aggressive behaviour, And we鈥檙e finding new ways to project stability beyond our borders: with NATO planes supporting the collation fighting Daesh; NATO ships, working with the EU, to counter piracy through Operation Ocean Shield and to help combat illegal trafficking and migration in the Aegean Sea and, now, the central Mediterranean.

皇冠体育app UK is proud to play its part. We do so for reasons of profound national interest, in effective European and trans-Atlantic security. 皇冠体育app range of our effort is considerable. 皇冠体育app UK is the largest military power in Europe and the second largest international bilateral aid donor. We are one of the few Allies to meet the NATO target of spending 2% of GDP on defence and 20% of our defence spending on new equipment. Uniquely, we also meet the UN target of spending 0.7% of our GNI on development, as tackling poverty is integral to tackling insecurity. We鈥檙e the only major country in the world to do meet all three goals.

We also contribute significantly to the nuclear deterrence which is the ultimate insurance policy for the Alliance. In what was arguably the first major decision of our new government in July, Parliament overwhelmingly supported a multi-billion pound programme to renew our independent nuclear deterrent, which, as the Warsaw Summit affirmed, contributes to the overall security of the Alliance.

Just last month at the NATO Defence Ministers meeting, Michael Fallon committed RAF Typhoon aircraft to the NATO Southern Air Policing mission to offer reassurance to Black Sea Allies, in that strategically important region. This builds on the decision earlier in the year that UK will be send 800 personnel to Estonia in our role as a framework nation in NATO鈥檚 Enhanced Forward Presence in the Baltic States and Poland. This new commitment, in which almost 20 Allies will be taking part, represents a proportionate, defensive, but agile response to the illegal actions of Russia on the borders of our Alliance.

British forces are already deployed on 368 commitments in 69 countries, often just a handful of people, but all of them making contributions to our national and international security. From taking part in crucial work training Iraqi armed forces to counter Daesh, to working with Nigeria to tackle Boko Haram. We have also doubled our UN peacekeeping contribution with additional deployments to South Sudan and Somalia. We are participating in Royal Navy deployments to counter people smuggling in the Mediterranean through ships participating in the EU鈥檚 Operation Sophia and training and assistance for the Libyan Coastguard.

Looking ahead to 2017, our leadership in NATO will intensify. 皇冠体育app UK will deploy additional personnel to Kosovo increasing our contribution to the KFOR Mission, as well as sending additional troops to Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan. And above all, we will lead next year NATO鈥檚 Very High Readiness Joint Taskforce (Land), providing 3,000 troops, to lead the Alliance鈥檚 modern deterrence effort.

2017 will also see the UK begin the formal process of negotiations to withdraw from the European Union, following this June鈥檚 referendum. But our Ministers have been clear that our commitment to Europe鈥檚 security, in particular through NATO and NATO-EU co-operation, will remain central to our foreign, security and defence policies.

Our leaders talked at Warsaw of the Alliance鈥檚 鈥渦nity, solidarity and strength鈥�. As the Secretary General said at the time the UK has an 鈥渆ssential role鈥� to play in NATO and we will continue to play that role, in 2017 and beyond.