Foreign and Commonwealth Office – 2019 Press Release on NATO Meeting in Brussels

Below is a press release issued by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on 20/11/2019.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is attending the last meeting of foreign ministers before the UK hosts the 70th anniversary NATO Leaders’ Meeting in December.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will travel to Brussels today to attend the final meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers ahead of next month’s NATO Leaders’ Meeting in London.

Foreign Ministers will agree further measures to strengthen deterrence and defence, including against hybrid threats, and enhance NATO’s role in the ongoing fight against international terrorism.

At the meeting Ministers are also expected to recognise space as an operational domain – alongside air, land, sea and cyber – and discuss Allies’ progress towards to achieving fairer burden sharing.

Ahead of the meeting, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said:

“The UK is a founding member of NATO and has played a key role in the Alliance for 70 years. Today is a chance to work with our closest allies on shared defence and security challenges, including hybrid threats and international terrorism.

We look forward to the UK hosting NATO leaders in December, and celebrating NATO’s 70th anniversary and discuss how to further strengthen the Alliance.

The UK is the largest defence investor in Europe and continues to meet NATO’s target of investing 2% of GDP on defence, with 20% of that on equipment.

On 3 and 4 December 2019, the UK will welcome Allied leaders to London – the home of NATO’s first headquarters – to mark 70 years of the Alliance. The meeting will provide an opportunity to take stock of NATO’s adaptation to 21st century challenges.”

The Foreign Secretary will also use today’s visit to separately meet with his E3 French and German counterparts to discuss shared foreign policy challenges, including Iran’s latest actions that contravene the JCP0A nuclear deal, and the escalation of protests in Hong Kong.