BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th May, 2023) Latvia is planning to increase defense spending to 3% of its gross domestic product (GDP) and continues procuring defense equipment, Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins said Wednesday.
"We are investing and will continue to invest in our own defense, making us a more capable NATO partner, NATO member-state. So, our first goal in two years' time is to reach 2.5% (of GDP); in 2027, we're planning to going on - 3% ... We will continue to invest in our defense, we will continue to invest in assistance to Ukraine, and we will continue to work, Yens, with you and with all our NATO partners to make Europe more secure," Karins told a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Yens Stoltenberg in NATO headquarters in Brussels.
The prime minister added that Riga reintroduces conscription, continues training military reserves and acquires three types of defense equipment: coastal defense, rocket artillery and medium-range air defense, which Latvia procures together with neighboring Estonia.
Karins also recalled that Latvia had spent over 1% of its GDP on military aid to Ukraine.
In early February 2022, Latvia supplied Stinger air defense systems to Ukraine. After the beginning of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, Riga also delivered Kalashnikov rifles to Ukraine, thermal vision optics, ammunition, equipment and rations. In the summer of 2022, Latvia provided Kiev with four military helicopters and announced a crowdfunding campaign for Turkish-made Bayraktar drones, but failed to raise enough money.
