NATO defence ministers began a two-day video conference on Thursday at which they will talk again about stepping up investment in defence and the armed forces, with Croatia's Mario Banozic attending.

At the beginning of the meeting, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that on the first day they would discuss the progress the allies were making in sharing the defence burden, how to strengthen their capacity to deter and defend, and how to improve the resilience of their societies.

The ministers will also talk about NATO missions to Afghanistan and Iraq.

On Wednesday, NATO published data for this year which show that defence budgets in the European member states and Canada have been increasing for the sixth consecutive year. In 2014, the allies set a target to earmark 2% of GDP for defence by 2024, of which at least 20% should go for equipment and weapons.

Currently ten member states are complying with that goal, eight of which are setting aside more than 20% for equipment.

Croatia is earmarking 1.87% of its GDP for defence, ranking in the middle of NATO’s 30 member states, but it is second to last when it comes to equipment, with only 9.5% of the defence budget earmarked for it. Slovenia is last with 8.7%.

Luxembourg sets aside the most for equipment, 37.5% of its defence budget, followed by Turkey with 36.9%.