In June 2025, the Netherlands hosted the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Summit 2025at the World Forum in its capital city, The Hague from June 24 to June 25, 2025.
- This was for the 1st time since the formation of NATO in 1949 that the Netherlands hosted a NATO summit.
- The summit saw the participation of around 9,000 people including foreign and defence ministers of 45 countries and a total of around 6,000 people representing various countries and 2,000 Dutch and foreign journalists.
Key Highlights of NATO Summit:
NATO adopted new 5% GDP Defence Spending Target at The Hague Summit:
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte announced that NATO countries have agreed to increase defence spending to 5% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) annually. This announcement was made following 32 member countries unanimously voted in favor of it during the NATO Summit 2025.
- All member countries of NATO are expected to achieve this new spending target over the next 10 years (by 2035).
- The trajectory balance of spending under this new target will be reviewed in 2029.
Key Points:
i.As part of the agreement, NATO members are expected to spend 3.5% of their GDP on core defence requirements such as troops and weapons, up from the current target of 2% of GDP.
ii.Also, these countries are now required to spend a further 1.5%of GDP on broader defence and security-related investments like: adapting roads, bridges, and ports for use by military vehicles, and on cyber-security and protecting energy pipelines.
Note*Non-NATO members invited for the Event are Australia, European Union, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Ukraine
Türkiye to Host NATO Summit in 2026 and Albania in 2027:
On the concluding day of the summit, NATO announced that Türkiye will host the next NATO Summit in 2026, while Albania will host the following summit in 2027.
- Previously, Turkey hosted the NATO Summit in June 2004 in Istanbul.
About North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO):
It is a political and military alliance of countries in Europe and North America. It was formed on April 04, 1949 by the foreign ministers of 12 countries, which signed the North Atlantic Treaty (also known as Washington Treaty) in Washington D.C., the USA.
Secretary-General- Mark Rutte
Headquarters- Brussels, Belgium
Members Countries- 32 (Sweden joined NATO in March 2024 as its 32nd member)
