In an Atlantic Council Front Page virtual event on June 25, 2026, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte discussed priorities for the upcoming NATO summit in Ankara, including the alliance’s focus on defense investment and accelerating production through the transatlantic industrial base.

Rutte highlighted the challenge of defense industrial output arriving too slowly and described efforts underway to expand manufacturing capacity on both sides of the Atlantic. He said the summit would include a major defense industry day featuring new contracts, memorandums of understanding, letters of intent, and additional agreements.

Turning to the message NATO aims to convey, Rutte said the outreach would not only demonstrate to citizens across NATO territory that the alliance is “doing what is necessary,” but would also be intended to signal to Russia: “hey, we know what you guys are doing, and we are better at it.”