Dutch to announce over €3 billion in defence deals at NATO forum, minister says

By Andrew Gray

ANKARA, July 6 (Reuters) - The Netherlands will announce defence deals and plans worth more than €3 billion ($3.43 billion) at a NATO forum in Ankara on Tuesday that precedes a summit of the alliance’s political leaders, Dutch Defence Minister Dilan Yesilgoz told Reuters.

In an interview in the Turkish capital on Monday, Yesilgoz said the announcements would include partnerships with Belgium on air defence and with Britain on naval ships. She said the Netherlands was also looking to engage in more joint projects with Germany.

"We have several levels of plans with countries around us, within NATO," Yesilgoz said. "For the Netherlands, it will be ... well over 3 billion euros that we will have new — not only pledges, but concrete plans." 

Yesilgoz did not provide more details ahead of the official announcements, which are intended as part of a blizzard of proclamations by NATO members at the forum to show they are spending more on defence, as demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump will join the leaders of NATO's 31 other members for the summit, which begins on Tuesday evening with a dinner and continues on Wednesday with a meeting of the alliance's top body, the North Atlantic Council.

Asked if she was confident the U.S. would remain engaged in NATO despite Trump's suggestions that he may no longer be committed to the alliance, Yesilgoz replied: "I have to be confident, because I know that we need each other."

"We need each other ... for our own safety and security," Yesilgoz added. She said it was "healthy for Europe to invest more in its own defence and defence industries regardless of who is at the White House at the moment."

($1 = 0.8750 euro)

(Reporting by Andrew Gray in Ankara, Editing by Bart Meijer and Matthew Lewis)