President: Eastern Poland's defences must be strengthened
are must be taken to strengthen eastern Poland in terms of defence capabilities, President Bronislaw Komorowski said on Wednesday during a visit to a garrison in the eastern town of Siedlce.
"If we expect ... NATO decisions on supporting and strengthening the eastern flank of the entire alliance, we also have to take care to strengthen our eastern region in terms of defence capabilities on a national level", President Komorowski said.
He mentioned that last year's NATO summit in Newport yielded decisions strengthening the organisation's eastern flank which "are also seen in the increased presence of NATO forces' military units".
Komorowski added that Poland had to accelerate the strengthening of units in the eastern part of the country and assured that "this is already happening and will continue at an even faster pace".
"A large part of this is not just about money, though big money will be earmarked for technical modernisation; it is about working on the system's organisation, which needs decisions and not necessarily just big spending," Komorowski remarked.
Poland's defence system "needs extra funding", which has resulted in a decision to increase military spending to 2 percent of GDP, the president added.
Source: PAP