Closer defense cooperation is vital during a time of tighter budgets, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said yesterday as defense ministers wrapped up their two-day meeting in Brussels.
“At a time when defense budgets are under pressure, we also need to cooperate more on defense planning, training and exercises,” Rasmussen said in a NATO statement. “This period of economic austerity poses a challenge to defense budgets but it also opens an opportunity for strength and cooperation and new ways to provide security.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta attended the meetings offering strong support for completing the NATO mission in Afghanistan and and other programs, such as the alliance’s missile defense program, and cybersecurity.
Sharing resources and coordinating on projects to maintain and increase capabilities is one way the alliance members have been embracing over past years as defense budgets shrank.
For example, projects approved at the Chicago Summit give allies more access to such things as clearing roadside bombs, sharing smart munitions and pooling maritime patrol aircraft, the statement said.
Rasmussen said investments must continue to be made in defense so the allies have “the right forces, the right capabilities, and the right structures” to keep their people safe from harm. This is part of the NATO push toward “smart defense.”
“We must recognize it may be hard to find fresh resources for defense while nations take the necessary steps to reduce their deficits and debts, but we must not overlook that security is the foundation of prosperity,” the statement said. “More multinational teamwork can help us spend our scarce resources more effectively.”
Allies need to keep up defense investment now in times of austerity and agree to increase defense investment once economies rebound, he said in the statement.