The European Union on Thursday arrived at an agreement for a programme boosting its defence industry, with an initial 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion) to ramp up production and supply chains, the Council of the EU said.

The development -- the fruit of long negotiations -- puts the bloc on track to improve its defence readiness, and also aims to "support defence industrial cooperation with Ukraine", the body, which represents member countries, said in a statement.

The 1.5-billion-euro budget for the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP), provided as grants, covers the period 2025-2027, according to the agreement struck with the European Parliament.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the news as an important step towards the EU being "defence-ready by 2030".

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