Norway to increase defense spending

OSLO — Norway on Saturday reconfirmed its commitment to gradually increase defense spending to 2 percent of GDP in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization during a visit by US Secretary of Defense James Mattis to the Nordic country.

“Norway is committed to the two percent goal in NATO,” Norwegian Defence Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen told reporters in a prepared statement, standing alongside US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who praised Norway’s role in the alliance.

Bakke-Jensen added that Norway hiked defence spending by 4 percent in real terms since 2013 and would “continue substantial increases in spending also in the coming years”.

The oil-rich nation, however, only spends about $6.5 billion per year on defense, or about 1.6 percent of gross domestic product — below NATO’s 2 percent target by 2024.

That earned it a rebuke from US President Donald Trump, who wrote a letter on June 19 to Norway saying it was the only NATO ally sharing a border with Russia that lacked “a credible plan” to spend 2 percent of its GDP on defense, according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters.

‘Star in NATO’

Trump acknowledged political pressures in Norway but warned it would become “increasingly difficult to justify to American citizens why some countries continue to fail to meet our shared collective security commitments”.

By contrast, Mattis praised Norway after talks with Bakke-Jensen and Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide.

He said Oslo’s recommitment to the 2 percent goal was heartening. “We are stronger today than we were a month ago or a year ago because of the deliverables that came out of that (NATO) summit,” he said after meeting Soereide.

And he praised “Norway’s leadership in the Nordic region and especially up in the Arctic where you serve as NATO’s sentinel ... You are definitely contributing beyond your weight class,” he said.

Soereide praised Mattis as a “star in NATO”.

During closed-door talks at the NATO summit this week, Trump warned that if European governments did not spend more on defense, the US “would have to look to go its own way,” sources told Reuters. Trump has subsequently said he was satisfied with spending commitments made in Brussels.

Norway is a founding member of NATO, which was created in 1949 to contain a military threat from the Soviet Union.

Norway will also soon play host to one of NATO’s biggest exercises in decades, and possibly Norway’s biggest exercise ever, in October and November when some 40,000 forces are expected to arrive in the country. The drill will simulate NATO efforts to help it repel an attacking force.

Mattis said the exercise “will demonstrate that the US and all of NATO stand with Norway as we seek to maintain peace and stability in Europe”.

Norway is also preparing to host up to 700 US Marines starting next year, compared with 330 presently, who carry out harsh winter training.