The NATO Summit is a key gathering where member states and their partners come together to discuss matters of political or strategic significance. Amid the Russia-Ukraine war, the membership of Ukraine in NATO is likely to be the top agenda at the summit to be held in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, over two days starting on Tuesday.

The leaders of 31 member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will convene for a two-day summit in the Lithuanian capital, where Sweden’s membership bid and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine would be two key issues.

According to Al Jazeera, the members will seek to reaffirm their support for war-torn Ukraine, overcome differences over Sweden’s prospective NATO membership, and display a united stance against Russia’s aggression.

Dates and Venue

The upcoming NATO Summit is taking place on July 11 and July 12 under the chairmanship of the current Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg.

The NATO Summit is being held at the LITEXPO, the Lithuanian Exhibition and Congress Centre.

In the 74-year history of NATO, for the first time, a summit will be held so close to their traditional adversary as Vilnius lies just 200 kilometres from the east of the border of Russia and just 35 km away from Belarus, a key ally of Russia.

Agenda

The Vilnius Summit is an opportunity to discuss the diverging narratives in the alliance on critical issues.

Several pressing issues including the war in Ukraine, Turkey-Sweden talks and the defence budget will be among the key issues to be discussed.

Membership of Ukraine

One of the primary topics is if NATO is ready to initiate the accession of Ukraine as an official member of the alliance.

According to Stoltenberg, all members have agreed that Ukraine will one day become a member, but it is not decided when it will happen, the Associated Press reported.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed that Ukraine is ready to be in NATO and he understands that it would not happen while the war was ongoing. But his country at least needs security guarantees.

Bilateral meeting between Türkiye and Sweden

After Russia's invasion, its northern neighbours, Finland and Sweden, promptly applied for NATO membership last year.

Finland cleared the requisite in April, while Turkey had been blocking Sweden's bid over concerns it's not doing enough to crack down on Kurdish militants.

However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan finally agreed to withdraw the objection and now Sweden can officially join NATO.

The Turkish leader will also hold bilateral talks with Swedish leadership as he is reportedly seeking to secure arms and upgraded F-16 fighter jets from the US, and Sweden could be the leverage.

Defence spending

In 2014 the alliance agreed to stick to a defence budget of 2 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) within a decade. As the 2024 deadline approaches, less than one-third of member states have met the goal and in Vilnius, is it expected that the 2 percent will be made the floor (that is, the least they should be spending) rather than the ceiling of the budget, AP reported.

(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)