NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg expects allies to raise defense spending targets.

APA reports that Stoltenberg said this in an interview with "Die Welt" newspaper.

General Secretary Stoltenberg said that he hopes that the alliance member states will increase the target of 2% of GDP allocation for defense spending when they meet at the summit in Vilnius in July this year.

"I believe that when we meet at the NATO summit in Vilnius this July, we will be able to adopt a new target for defense spending," Stoltenberg said.

"The two percent target was for the period until 2024. So we have to update it now."

Stoltenberg said that he could not yet say whether the member countries would reach an agreement.

"But I think it will be a more ambitious target than before, because everyone sees that we need to invest more," he added.

It should be noted that after Russia's military intervention in Ukraine in February last year, many allies increased their military spending.