Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavský met NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at NATO HQ in Brussels

Minister Lipavský welcomed progress of military transformation and strengthening of NATO defence capabilities. He appreciated the priority given to the enhancement of Deference and Deterrence of the Alliance’s Eastern Flank. Minister informed NATO Secretary General that Czechia will be spending 2 % GDP on defence by 2024 and is open to a further increase.

"On behalf of the Czech government, I mentioned that next year we will achieve or will have achieved 2 % GDP defence spending. In this context, I also mentioned ready-to-go strategic documents of Czechia, the key message of which will be, among other things, the need to comprehensively invest in both our own and shared security and defence," said Lipavský.

Minister Lipavský and NATO Secretary General extensively discussed the development in Russia´s aggressive war and NATO´s non-military support to Ukraine that ought to be further enhanced. In this context, Minister Lipavský underlined the importance of Western unity and the strength of the combined NATO-EU effort. One of the topics discussed were the threats related to the influence of China.

During his visit to Brussels, Foreign Minister Lipavský also met Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders and Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič. They discussed the possibilities of further supporting Ukraine, punishing war crimes committed on its territory, humanitarian aid and strengthening the resilience of the European Union and its role in the world.

On the sidelines of the meeting, the Czech minister also met with important Czech women that work in EU institutions, with whom he talked about harmonising personal and professional life and about possibilities of further supporting greater involvement of Czechs in European institutions.