Ahead of the first NATO ministerial meeting on Swedish soil, Kristersson and Rutte visit Revinge outside Lund, where the Swedish Civil Defence Agency conducts training for rescue personnel.
At the press conference there, Kristersson's message to NATO was that Sweden takes its commitments seriously and realizes that rearmament is urgent.
At the NATO summit in The Hague last year, NATO countries agreed to spend 5 percent of their gross domestic product on their defense and on infrastructure investments that are important to the military by 2035. Within that goal, 3.5 percent of GDP is to go to traditional defense spending.
Kristersson points out that Sweden estimates that the 5 percent target will be reached as early as 2030.
"We are implementing the largest increase in defense spending since the Cold War," he says.
There is already a broad consensus among the parliamentary parties about achieving NATO's goals as early as 2030.
The Swedish total defense concept, where civil society collaborates with the military, is unusual internationally.
Kristersson emphasizes that the experiences from Ukraine show the central role of the emergency services in war.
"We need to increase the capacity of our rescue services and that is exactly what we are doing and have seen today," says the Prime Minister.
