NATO’s 2023 Report: Strong Support, Aid to Ukraine, and Historic Defence Spending

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s annual report for 2023, launched on March 14, 2024, covers a wide range of topics related to the Alliance’s work over the past year. Here are some key points from the report:

1. Public Support: Stoltenberg highlighted strong public support for NATO, with an overwhelming majority of citizens across Allied countries, including the United States, indicating they would vote in favor of NATO if a vote were held today.
2. Support for Ukraine: Allies provided unprecedented levels of support to Ukraine, including the provision of long-range systems, missiles, and aircraft. Several Allies also signed bilateral security agreements with Ukraine.
3. Defence Spending: 2023 saw the ninth consecutive year of increased investment in defence across Europe and Canada, with defence spending rising by an unprecedented 11%. Two-thirds of Allies are expected to meet the 2% target of defence spending as a percentage of GDP in 2024.
4. NATO’s 75th Anniversary Summit: Stoltenberg expects Allies to take further steps to support Ukraine, reinforce and resource NATO’s defences, and deepen partnerships around the world at NATO’s 75th Anniversary Summit in Washington.
5. Defence Production Action Plan: At the 2023 Vilnius Summit, Allies agreed on a new Defence Production Action Plan to ramp up production, strengthen engagement with industry, and increase interoperability. NATO has since agreed on contracts worth tens of billions of dollars for ammunition and key capabilities.
6. Partnerships: NATO has further deepened its relations with partners in the Indo-Pacific region and the European Union.
7. Expansion: Finland joined the NATO family in 2023, and Sweden became the 32nd Ally in 2024, making NATO bigger and stronger.
8. Defence Innovation Accelerator: NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) is doubling its network of accelerators and test centers to focus on solving defence and security challenges and sharpening NATO’s technological edge.

The Annual Report for 2023 provides a comprehensive overview of NATO’s work and achievements throughout the year.