NATO countries will discuss their defence spending targets in the coming months as some of them call for turning a 2 percent target into a minimum figure, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told the German news agency DPA.

"Some allies are strongly in favour of turning the current 2 percent target into a minimum," DPA quoted Stoltenberg as saying in an interview published on Tuesday.

Stoltenberg said that he would head the negotiations. "We will meet, we will have ministerial meetings, we will have talks in capitals," he said. He did not say which NATO countries were calling for a more ambitious target, according to DPA.

The NATO chief said he aimed to reach an agreement no later than NATO's next regular summit, which will be in Lithuania's capital, Vilnius, on July 11-12.

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(Edited by : Sangam Singh)

First Published:Jan 3, 2023 12:52 PM IST