BRUSSELS, June 29 (Xinhua) -- NATO defense ministers on Thursday took forward decisions on fair burden-sharing and counterterrorism which were made at NATO summit in May, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said after a ministerial meeting.
Stoltenberg told media that NATO allies made major progress towards fairer burden-sharing, and it will be the third consecutive year of accelerating defense investment across European allies and Canada.
According to him, NATO European allies and Canada spent 46 billion U.S. dollars more on defense since 2015. The money will be spent on "many different things", including investing in new equipment and military exercises, but also soldiers' salaries and pensions.
In 2017, 25 NATO allies will increase defense spending in real terms. Stoltenberg said: "This is a significant increase which means that we are moving in the right direction when it comes to burden-sharing and defense spending."
"Burden-sharing involves cash, capabilities and contributions too. Today, Allies have agreed to accept new NATO capability targets," he stressed.
The increase in defense spending, which comes after years of a decline, will also allow the alliance to invest more on air-to-air refueling and to increase the number of forces and troops.
However, only five of the 29 NATO allies, including the United States and the UK have so far met NATO's benchmark of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense.
The news will be seen as a direct response to U.S. President Donald Trump who, during his election campaign, branded NATO as "obsolete", and has repeatedly demanded that NATO allies "pay their fair share" towards the cost of Europe's defense.
Stoltenberg said he "welcomed" Trump's "strong focus" on defense spending, adding that "at the same time, I have strongly stressed that European allies should invest more in defense not only to please the Unite States but because it is in their own interests".
Aside from funding, NATO will be stepping up its counter-cyberattack measures in light of this week's attacks in Ukraine. Dozens of Ukraine's government agencies, banks and private companies have been struck on Tuesday.
NATO defense ministers discussed enhancing NATO-EU cooperation, especially in cyber security during the meeting, also attended by EU foreign policy and security chief Federica Mogherini, as well as the ministers of Finland and Sweden.
Stoltenberg said: "One area where our cooperation has been particularly useful is cyber defense. The NATO and EU emergency cyber response teams are now able to share information and warnings in real time."
The defense ministers, meeting for the first time since Trump's recent visit to the NATO headquarters in Brussels, also discussed the ongoing fight against terrorism.
NATO is now fully integrated into the information-sharing and decision-making structures of the Global Coalition to defeat the Islamic State (IS).
"We have already stepped up our support with more flight-time and information sharing by our AWACS surveillance aircraft," said Stoltenberg.
He added that at NATO headquarters, a new terrorism intelligence cell has been established and NATO deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller will coordinate the alliance's anti-terrorism efforts.
