US President Donald Trump will attend the NATO heads of state summit in Ankara in July, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
Rubio said on Wednesday the summit would be the "most important meeting" in the alliance's history because "there are some things here that need to be cleared up and fixed."
“The United States is still in the NATO alliance, and we'll be there," Rubio told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
While Washington remains a member, he said the organisation needs "significant changes" that will be discussed in the July 7-8 summit in the Turkish capital.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Tuesday also indicated that Trump plans to attend the NATO summit.
He said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke with Trump several times by phone last month and that the US president indicated on each occasion that he would participate in the summit.
Stressing that the US remains committed to the alliance despite political rhetoric, Fidan said there are no signs that Washington intends to act on warnings that it could withdraw from NATO.
“The US is constantly pressing allies to increase defence spending and take greater responsibility for their own security,” he stated, pointing out:
“Europeans have received the message and have already taken steps to increase defence budgets within NATO.”
“When leaders come together, we will review the progress achieved,” he said.
