Canada, European NATO states to raise defence spending by 4.3 pct in 2017

European allies of NATO and Canada will increase defence spending by 4.3 percent in 2017, marking a cumulative $46 billion jump since cuts stopped in 2014, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday.

"To keep our nations safe, we need to keep working to increase defence spending and fairer burden-sharing across our alliance," Stoltenberg said a day before NATO defence ministers meet in Brussels to discuss greater security expenditure, which U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing for.

"After years of decline, in 2015 we saw a real increase in defence spending across European allies and Canada ... this year, we foresee an even greater real increase of 4.3 percent," he told a news conference.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)