SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PETE HEGSETH: [Inaudible] beautiful Friday morning. To Minister Pevkur, Minister Spruds and Minister Sakaliene, thank you all for being here. It's wonderful to have you, hosting you here at the Pentagon. First of all, I want to thank all of you for your support, ongoing support for US troops, in so many different ways and especially recently, to Lithuania on that recovery mission of our service members this spring.
The respect that you and your country, that all of your country show to our troops is incredible, and so we thank you for that. Second, I want to congratulate all of you on your important roles in the most, we believe, the successful and historic NATO summit in modern history. President Trump called on European allies to lead on continental defense in NATO. The commitment by allies to five percent defense spending will make NATO stronger and more sustainable, more lethal on capabilities and it starts with allies spending more on defense, and our Baltic allies have long blazed the trail here.
This is not new for all of you and you led the charge on other countries in NATO stepping up. President Trump has been clear, the United States remains fully committed to NATO and together, we're achieving peace through strength in Europe by setting the conditions for a negotiated lasting peace in Ukraine, establishing sustainable deterrence and increasing allied capabilities and interoperability.
We also recognize that the United States has a lot of obligations around the world, including defending our homeland and deterring war in the Indo-Pacific. So this is why European leadership, in your own conventional defense on the continent, is more important than ever. Your efforts to modernize and invest in new military capabilities are critical to deterring attacks and building readiness.
I really, from this podium, in this building, want to applaud your leadership, as I mentioned, on meeting the five percent defense spending target, not years down the road but in all of your countries in 2026. It underscores your dedication to the Alliance's security and sets a very clear example for others to follow.
I also, as I mentioned off the top, truly do appreciate the ongoing support for US and allied forces in the Baltics, including multinational training environments, which bolsters our collective readiness. I'm also glad that our deployed HIMARS have been able to help with your troops on training ahead of receiving your HIMARS equipment.
This cooperation accelerates our ability to defend countries with capable systems. So ministers, your visit demonstrates our strong defense relationship and I very much appreciate it. Thank you for being here. Go ahead. Thank you.
DEFENSE MINISTER HANNO PEVKUR: Well, thank you very much, dear friends, dear Pete. Thank you once again for hosting us in this hot summer day here in Washington. And this is why, actually, let me start with unusual remark that -- and start with the invitation to you to come to Estonia in the coldest time of the year, in January, as we have the Allied exercise winter camp.
And there is a possibility where we could jump in together with our troops into the ice-cold water. So you are more than welcome to visit our troops and your own troops and to jump into the frozen lake.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PETE HEGSETH: I'll give you a solid maybe on the frozen lake.
DEFENSE MINISTER HANNO PEVKUR: Well, let's see. How about that?
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PETE HEGSETH: Thank you.
DEFENSE MINISTER HANNO PEVKUR: But anyway, our meeting today is a testimony to the strong and trusted partnership between the Baltic States and the United States. We are allies who are willing to strengthen our common defense and we are more than determined to continue this very close cooperation. We stand up for one another and we defend each other when it's needed.
This is what brotherhood in arms truly means. We experienced this serving side by side in Afghanistan and to continue to do so in Iraq as we meet here today. Under the leadership of President Trump, the United States is doing a tremendous job strengthening NATO. At the Hague summit, you mentioned already, we made a historic decision to spend five percent of GDP on defense by 2035 in the Alliance, but we all know that we need to do it more quickly. And especially, I would like to thank you, Pete, for all your efforts in achieving that goal.
You know that Estonia is a firm supporter of this objective that will guide European nations to take more responsibility for their own defense. And in this regard, yes, Estonia will spend even more than five percent already next year and years to come. And I want to highlight that this money is going to real military power, to core defense capabilities, all these five and above. And of course, we will continue to push other allies to do the same so that Europe and Canada would bear their burden with the United States.
So this is needed that Europe could defend itself with more lethality and highly ready forces. And this is also needed to support President Trump's plan he put together with NATO [inaudible] to further assist Ukraine. While the Baltic states and Europe are ready to assume greater responsibility in ensuring Europe's security, the United States' role in contributing to the deterrence on NATO's eastern flank remains crucial.
US military presence in the Baltic states has a great impact. Together we keep the front door of the alliance closed and ensure peace to add strength to our people, to our nations on both sides of the Atlantic. So we are really, extremely grateful for this and look forward to continue the excellent military cooperation between our nations.
Dear Pete, thank you very much once again for hosting us.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PETE HEGSETH: Thank you. Thank you.
DEFENSE MINISTER ANDRIS SPRUDS: Dear Secretary, dear Pete, colleagues, distinguished media representatives, first of all, let me thank for warm welcome to Washington D.C., to the Defense Department. We highly appreciate it, that all three Baltic countries can come together and we can discuss important issues for all of us, for Alliance, and of course, for security of member states of the Alliance.
And let me thank as well, your commitment, your leadership, advocating the more investment in defense and also promoting the whole idea. And it's not just about -- it's about practical steps to make NATO as an alliance stronger, more efficient, and as you have mentioned, more lethal. So in these challenging times, it is important we are becoming much more efficient and lethal.
And of course, under the leadership of United States, strong leadership and strong encouragement, we have had a very successful NATO summit in The Hague, where we made more lethal mindset and also the concrete steps towards the capabilities, which absolutely are crucial. United States play an important role in keeping solidarity, the article five of the Washington Treaty, the one for all, all for one, and of course, also the clear threat assessment is important that Russia is a long-term threat.
We should support Ukraine, but we fully realize it's not just about Europe, it's also about Indo-Pacific. It's about wider global stability where we absolutely are allies and partners to make a global stability and security for our people. And of course it's also about Europeans stepping up, it's about fair burden sharing, which is crucial and concrete steps, five percent, are absolutely instrumental once more under the leadership of presidential administration under the United States, leadership of United States. We have made this very concrete, very practical, very important step.
Latvia takes defense expenditure very serious. We are investing also next year it will be five percent for defense and defense related issues. We are investing in our armed forces. Now, the capabilities starting from air defense to also the new technologies, we are building together with three Baltic countries in Poland, Baltic Defense Line, and we see also here the United States can assist and be a partner in constructing and making as efficient as necessary because it is not just external border of the Baltic countries, its external border of NATO. And of course, we are also investing in military defense and also in military ranges.
So here, we see the potential for our cooperation. So technologies, exercises absolutely are the step practical [ph] forward. And last but not least, of course our bilateral relationship between three Baltic countries and the United States, they remain strategic. They remain indispensable for wider security. I think we show the role model.
We are becoming role model in a sense how to invest, how to take defense serious. And here, we can of course do together exercises, exercises in our military ranges. We can of course also do it in new technologies, for instance in drone technologies, which are coming, so we absolutely must invest. We see United States are doing a lot in this regard and we are also doing a lot in this regard.
And of course, we can do together a lot of things also in military defense industry with regard to new technologies, but not only. So that's why we remain strategic partners. We conceive the strategic partnership, indispensable for us. We highly value this partnership. We are absolutely looking forward how to expand and deepen this partnership between our nations. Thank you so much.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PETE HEGSETH: Thank you.
DEFENSE MINISTER DOVILE SAKALIENE: So dear Secretary, dear Pete, thank you for hosting us in Washington. We really appreciate that. And as you know and as we've spoken before, you know that everyone, every single one of United States troops is one of our own in Lithuania and we do deeply care about them. We do deeply care about our friendship and we consider them family.
Lithuania has participated in eight missions with United States in difficult points in the world and we are going to continue and of course, we fully embrace your vision regarding lethality, warfighting and readiness of our forces. We feel that this really needs to be taken care of immediately. And along with our Baltic partners, we are leading by example.
So it's not about the size, it's about determination. And long before the Hague Summit, Lithuania made a bold decision to raise our defense spending above five percent. It's going to be from five to six percent GDP on hard [ph] defense from 2025 to at least 2030. And we have over four percent already this year. We urged other European allies to do the same. We invested troops, weapons and infrastructure at an unprecedented speed.
And we have already invested $2 billion, two billion euros, actually, in the United States equipment, including HIMARS, Blackhawks, switchblades, Javelins, missiles and JLTVs, of which we now have the largest fleet in Europe. We are strengthening our capabilities and over 20 percent of our defense acquisitions are United States made.
We're expanding our defense industry cooperation. We're working with Northrop Grumman and we are discussing supply chains and co-production with multiple United States defense industry giants including Lockheed Martin and others and boosting defense industry is our priority. We really invite United States companies to invest in Lithuania.
We offer zero percent corporate tax, bureaucracy-free green corridors and state-of-the-art technologies. And since 2019, as you all know, Lithuania has been hosting a United States heavy infantry battalion and artillery unit on a persistent basis. And this fall, we will open new infrastructure and training facilities for United States forces with over 200 million euros invested by Lithuania.
So dear Pete, we're really looking forward to seeing you in Lithuania for the opening ceremony on the 1st of October.
DEFENSE MINISTER ANDRIS SPRUDS: Dear Pete, if I may, immediately just of course, you are also welcome to Latvia to check the icy waters, to compare the waters in three Baltic countries.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PETE HEGSETH: Very good.
DEFENSE MINISTER DOVILE SAKALIENE: And just to finalize, so our support for Ukraine is steadfast, totaling in one billion euros already and we will continue allocating at least 0.3 percent GDP to meet its needs. And we commend your efforts to stop the war in Ukraine, especially President Trump's decision to send United States arms to Ukraine fully funded by NATO allies.
Lithuania is ready to contribute to buying Patriots for Ukraine produced by United States. And also, as last comment, as the only NATO defense minister sanctioned by China, I really do understand what is at stake and United States leadership remains vital to transatlantic security, to global security, so we really stand ready to work with you shoulder to shoulder always.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PETE HEGSETH: Thank you. Thank you all for your friendship, for your strength, for your leadership and for your example, and for now your invitations as well, truly. It is being in the NATO format, watching the way the Baltic states lead, lead by example, and remind the entire alliance of its responsibilities on readiness, lethality interoperability on exercises is really important.
So it's an honor to have you here at the Pentagon. Thank you and maybe we'll take a picture. How about that?
DEFENSE MINISTER HANNO PEVKUR: Yeah, let's do it [ph].
UNKNOWN: Right here.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PETE HEGSETH: All right. Thank you. Follow me. Thank you.
UNKNOWN: No questions.
Thank you.