NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller speaks during an international field exercise organised and conducted by NATO's Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC) in Podgorica, Montenegro November 3, 2016. REUTERS/Stevo Vasiljevic

PRAGUE (Reuters) - NATO welcomes the European Union’s initiative for a European defense fund as it will help to strengthen the military alliance, NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller said on Friday.

“At the moment, too many resources are wasted through duplication and lack of coordination,” she said at the Defense and Security Conference Prague in the Czech capital.

“This is an area where the EU can make a big difference and we strongly support their efforts to do so. A stronger European defense means a stronger NATO, and a stronger NATO means a stronger European defense.”