(L-R) Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg's Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade; Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State;
Credit: MAE
On Thursday 3 and Friday 4 April 2025, Luxembourg's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Xavier Bettel, participated in the NATO Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Brussels, Belgium.
As reported by Luxembourg's Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Defence, Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, the agenda included several working sessions of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) and a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council (NUC), devoted to preparations for the NATO Summit to be held in The Hague, the Netherlands in June 2025, as well as cooperation with NATO's Indo-Pacific partners (Australia, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand), the war in Ukraine and cooperation between NATO and the European Union. The High Representative of the European Union, Kaja Kallas, participated in this final session.
The 32 Allies reaffirmed their commitment to the Alliance. In his remarks, Minister Bettel addressed the war in Ukraine and emphasised the importance of Allied unity. He also addressed the war in the Gaza Strip and its negative consequences. Regarding defence spending, he reaffirmed Luxembourg's commitment to achieving the target of 2% of gross national income (GNI) devoted to defence.
On the sidelines of the ministerial meeting, Minister Bettel held bilateral meetings with his Ukrainian counterpart, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.
