Ukrainian President has urged NATO to speed up his country’s membership in the alliance, saying it was the only way to end fighting with pro-Russia separatists.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

• The NATO, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 European and North American countries.
• The organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed on 4 April 1949.
• NATO constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party.
• NATO’s Headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons, Belgium.

Its members

• Since its founding, the admission of new member states has increased the alliance from the original 12 countries to 30.
• The most recent member state to be added to NATO was North Macedonia on 27 March 2020.
• NATO currently recognizes Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine as aspiring members.
• An additional 20 countries participate in NATO’s Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programs.

Why NATO matters?

• The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the global nominal total.
• Members agreed that their aim is to reach or maintain the target defence spending of at least 2% of their GDP by 2024.

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India & NATO

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