Portugal’s €220 million aid package for Ukraine to be repeated next year.

4 months ago 23

Portuguese aid to Ukraine will reach more than €220 million this year and will be repeated in 2025, said Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, who reiterated the commitment to reach 2% investment in defence by 2029.

Montenegro spoke to journalists on Tuesday before dinner at Portugal’s official residence in Washington, accompanied by Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel and Defence Minister Nuno Melo, as part of the NATO summit that runs until Thursday.

The summit, which began on Tuesday with a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), is focusing on support for Ukraine, with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg proposing that the Alliance commit to an annual sum of €40 billion.

“We have a commitment that I formalised just yesterday in a letter I sent to NATO’s secretary-general that reaching 2% of our budget expenditure on defence will be achieved a year earlier than planned, in 2029,” Montenegro said on Tuesday.

He also reiterated his commitment, made at the end of June, to present to the summit a plan for Portugal to reach an investment in security and defence of 2% of its GDP by 2029.

He said that as part of NATO allies’ efforts to invest in security and defence, “a major financial contribution is also included in this international coalition to provide military, humanitarian, political and economic support for Ukraine.”

“This year alone, we estimate that we will be able to reach a value of support of more than €220 million, which will be repeated next year,” he said.

Montenegro also argued that while this is an effort by the country for security reasons, “it is an effort that has the return of economic activity that can also be generated” and detailed some of the sectors that could benefit.

“It will be centred on technology, on all the knowledge we already have in various materials, in various pieces of equipment. We have, for example, in terms of drones and unmanned vehicles, a very significant competitiveness, and then we have other materials that are related, for example, to our textile industry, which is highly competitive for a lot of the equipment that the military forces need,” he said.

Accompanied by his foreign and defence ministers, Montenegro is attending NATO Secretary General and US President Joe Biden’s official welcoming ceremony to the heads of state and government in Washington and the meeting of the North Atlantic Council, the Allies’ main policy-making body.

(Sara Madeira – edited by Pedro Sousa Carvalho | Lusa.pt)