World leaders gather in the Netherlands for Nato summit

The upcoming Nato summit takes place in The Hague, Netherlands (Patrick Post/AP)

World leaders were gathering in the Netherlands on Tuesday for the start of a historic two-day Nato summit that could unite the world’s biggest security organisation around a new defence spending pledge or widen divisions among the 32 allies.

The allies are expected to endorse a goal of spending 5% of their gross domestic product on their security, to be able to fulfil the alliance’s plans for defending against outside attack.