Britain, Netherlands, Finland, Poland say they are making progress on defence plan


People adjust a lectern in the main press conference room a day before the start of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, July 6, 2026. REUTERS/Yves Herman

WARSAW, July 6 (Reuters) - ⁠Britain, the Netherlands, Finland and Poland are making "significant ⁠progress" on the new Multilateral Defence Mechanism and ‌aim to establish it by 2027, the countries said in a joint statement on Monday.

Defence financing is set to be a ​key topic at this week's NATO ⁠summit in Ankara, Turkey. ⁠The MDM is one of several competing initiatives aimed at ⁠channelling ‌more private cash into rearming nations.

"We have benefited from the support of a broader ⁠group of allies in developing the technical details ​of this ‌model," the four nations said in their statement.

They ⁠said they ​would work to expand the coalition of nations involved in the project and would move on to the next ⁠phase of developing the mechanism with ​countries that have declared their participation in autumn.

Another key project in the increasingly crowded field of defence financing initiatives ⁠is the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank.

Canada is aiming to announce around 10 founding nations for the DSRB at the NATO summit. The Polish finance ministry ​did not immediately respond to an ⁠emailed question about whether it was in talks to ​join the DSRB.

Britain has ruled ‌out participation in the DSRB, opting ​to pursue the MDM project instead.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Barbara Erling, Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!

Others Also Read