2026

WARSAW, July 6 (Reuters) – Britain, the Netherlands, Finland and Poland are making “significant progress” on the new Multilateral Defence Mechanism and aim to establish it by 2027, the countries said in a joint statement on Monday.

Defence financing is set to be a key topic at this week’s NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. The MDM is one of several competing initiatives aimed at channelling more private cash into rearming nations.

“We have benefited from the support of a broader group of allies in developing the technical details of this model,” the four nations said in their statement.

They said they would work to expand the coalition of nations involved in the project and would move on to the next phase of developing the mechanism with countries that have declared their participation in autumn.

Another key project in the increasingly crowded field of defence financing initiatives is the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank.

Canada is aiming to announce around 10 founding nations for the DSRB at the NATO summit. The Polish finance ministry did not immediately respond to an emailed question about whether it was in talks to join the DSRB.

Britain has ruled out participation in the DSRB, opting to pursue the MDM project instead.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Barbara Erling, Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

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DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron arrived Monday in Syria, making him the first major western leader to visit the war-torn country since the ouster of Bashar al-Assad in 2024.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited in April but Macron is the first leader from western Europe or North America to do so.

The French president’s visit comes during a period of relative calm in the Middle East after the monthlong war in Iran and Lebanon. He will travel next to Ankara, Turkey, for the NATO summit, where Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa is also expected to attend and hold a high-profile meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Syria’s state-run SANA news agency said Macron would visit with a business delegation to discuss regional security as well as business and investment opportunities.

The French president was greeted at Damascus airport by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani.

“I have come to express France’s commitment to the Syrian people. For a sovereign Syria, united in its diversity and at peace with its neighbors,” Macron said in a post on X. “Together, let us open a new chapter of stability and peace.”

France supports all those who can “contribute to build a new Syria” in line with the aspirations expressed since the 2011 Arab Spring, Macron’s office said, referring to a period of widespread uprisings across the Middle East that called for political change and reform.

Macron will meet with al-Sharaa at the presidential palace and “engage directly with diverse Syrian people,” his office said.

The French president’s meetings are scheduled throughout Tuesday, beginning with members of Syrian civil society, his office said, though no details were disclosed. Macron will then meet with al-Sharaa, before holding economic talks and signing memorandums of understanding. The two leaders will hold a joint news conference afterward.

Macron hosted al-Sharaa in Paris in May 2025, where he urged European and U.S. leaders to lift longstanding sanctions on Damascus. Most of those sanctions had since been lifted.

Paris supported Syria’s new leadership even at a time where others were skeptical of al-Sharaa’s Islamist-led rule and former role as the head of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militant group, previously linked to al-Qaida.

Western governments were especially concerned about the treatment and inclusion of women and minorities, and whether Syria’s new government would transition into a more democratic rule.

Syria has managed to sidestep the region’s recent conflicts, but the country is still battered from 13 years of war that left much of it in ruins, drove millions into poverty, and will cost hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild. While Syria has signed memorandums of understanding with states and large companies for large investment projects, they have not yet come to fruition.

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Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press journalist Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.

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