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* Oslo says committed to two percent defence spending goal
* Trump wants NATO allies to fulfill their commitments
* Mattis praises Norway as "NATO's sentinel" in Arctic
By Phil Stewart and Alister Doyle
OSLO, July 14 (Reuters) - Norway, described by U.S. President Donald Trump as NATO's "eyes and ears" in the north, recommitted itself to lifting its defence spending to meet NATO targets during talks on Saturday with Trump's defence secretary.
But Norwegian leaders appeared to stop short of setting a new timetable for meeting spending goals, even after Trump's claims to have won assurances from NATO allies during heated discussions this week in Brussels.
"Norway is committed to the two percent goal in NATO," Norwegian Defence Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen told reporters in a prepared statement, standing alongside U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who praised Norway's role in the alliance.
Bakke-Jensen added that Norway hiked defence spending by four percent in real terms since 2013 and would "continue substantial increases in spending also in the coming years."
Norway is considered one of America's most valuable European allies, helping gather intelligence on Russia's maritime military activities, partnering with U.S. forces in Afghanistan and the Middle East and buying advanced U.S. weaponry, including stealth fighter jets.
But the oil-rich nation only spends about $6.5 billion per year on defense, or about 1.6 percent of gross domestic product -- below NATO's two percent target by 2024.
That earned it a rebuke from Trump, who wrote a letter on June 19 to Norway saying it was the only NATO ally sharing a border with Russia that lacked "a credible plan" to spend two percent of its GDP on defense, according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters.
"NATO'S SENTINEL"
Trump acknowledged political pressures in Norway but warned it would become "increasingly difficult to justify to American citizens why some countries continue to fail to meet our shared collective security commitments."
By contrast, Mattis praised Norway after talks with Bakke-Jensen and Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide.
He said Oslo's recommitment to the two percent goal was heartening. "We are stronger today than we were a month ago or a year ago because of the deliverables that came out of that (NATO) summit," he said after meeting Soereide.
And he praised "Norway's leadership in the Nordic region and especially up in the Arctic where you serve as NATO's sentinel ... You are definitely contributing beyond your weight class," he said.