NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte arrived at the "Novo Selo" training ground, where he got acquainted with the activities of the Multinational Battle Group with the framework country Italy, which our country is hosting. Rutte is visiting Bulgaria today.
"It is a pleasure for me to be able to meet in Bulgaria with the military personnel of the NATO multinational group. Your country plays a key role in our security in the Black Sea and beyond. This multinational group is working towards expanding to the composition of a brigade that will support NATO's security on the Eastern Flank. And to send a clear message that we are ready to defend our countries together," Rutte said during a briefing.
The Secretary General of the Alliance praised our country for following the guidelines and allocating at least 2% of GDP for defense, managing to allocate even more than that.
"All member states strive to reach and exceed this threshold. All our members have a deficit in this important item. I appeal to all our allies to allocate more funds for defense, more than these 2%, but along with increasing their military budgets, to also increase their military production," added Mark Rutte.
Mark Rutte took office as NATO Secretary General on October 1 this year. Mark Rutte (57) was Prime Minister of the Netherlands for 14 years, between 2010 and 2024. A year ago, he expressed his readiness to lead the alliance and managed to receive unanimous support by the NATO summit in Washington in early July.
The head of the military alliance did not fail to thank Bulgaria for the help it provided to Ukraine.
This not only makes Bulgaria stronger and more secure, but also contributes to the security of all member states, Mark Rutte also said.