NATO Must Be More Efficient and Lethal

Watch NATO Must Be More Efficient and Lethal - AlArabiya English on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00I'm joined by Latvia's Defence Minister, Andres Sprudz. Thank you for your time, Minister.

00:05Thank you for having me.

00:06How would you assess this NATO leader summit?

00:09We've heard it being described as one of the most consequential in recent history.

00:14Would you agree with that?

00:15Yes, I would agree. This has been a formative summit, back to roots, all for one, one for all,

00:22with increased defence spending, with common threat assessment,

00:26with understanding that to protect our territories and people, you need to spend more.

00:32You need to make alliance more efficient, more lethal to address those challenges.

00:37It's first of all about Russia, but it's not just about Russia.

00:42We see developments in Middle East, we see developments in the Pacific.

00:45China is on the rise with some challenging nature in this regard,

00:50so we need to address all those global challenges together as one alliance.

00:56So that's why also we have to commit more spending, which means more capabilities.

01:01You mentioned broader global conflicts, Middle East, for example.

01:06We've also heard the Secretary-General making reference to how interconnected global conflicts are.

01:12With that in mind, can you see an expanded remit, an expanded operation for NATO,

01:21maybe more active in the Middle East?

01:24First of all, it is the Collective Defence Alliance defending NATO's territory.

01:30So it's 32 members, 32 countries which should be defended.

01:34So above all, the primary task is, if we go back to our roots, collective defence.

01:39At the same time, it's not excluded that in different coalitions of the willing,

01:44and I would add coalitions of the able, are also actively participating or acting more globally as well.

01:51But this would most likely not be direct aim, direct goal of the NATO mission or NATO as an organisation.

01:58So collective defence is above all.

02:00Mm-hm.

02:01Mm-hm.