Defence Minister Welcomes Military Attachés

In his speech, the Minister of Defence stressed that the consequences of any movement in the world will soon reach everyone. For example, the series of last year’s events called “Arab spring" and the Fukushima nuclear disaster have changed our lives and the entire world – and the financial crisis had its impact as well.

“Last year you were able to witness a large-scale building work within the defence sector in Hungary. With the enactment of the new Constitution and the new National Defence Act, the legal framework for national defence has been renewed from the foundations up", the Minister said. The National Public Service University – the new institution of officer cadet training – and the unified Military National Security Service have both been established, the volunteer reserve system has developed successfully and bureaucracy has been reduced radically.

Besides doing a lot of work here in Hungary, we have joined the efforts of the international community on several hotspots around the world. Together with our allies, we have made huge progress in Afghanistan, and by joining forces with them we managed to protect the fragile peace in Kosovo too", Csaba Hende said.

“The renewal of the Hungarian Defence Forces is under way. The biggest challenge remains for us to be able to execute our tasks by high standards with our scarce material resources. Another great project is being implemented, namely the development and introduction of a new career path model and human resources strategy. In addition, we would like to strengthen the area of Hungarian defence industry, which has honorable traditions. We are seeking partners for this cooperation".

Dr. Csaba Hende stressed that Hungary attaches great value to the service of the military attachés accredited to Budapest. “We will do our best to make sure that you can know Hungary as thoroughly as possible, so that you can inform our allies and friends about the transformation that is going on here", the Defence Minister said.

In his speech, Croatian military attaché Col. Darko Kereša, the doyen of the attachés pointed out that “in 2011, we witnessed those reforms that the Hungarian Defence Forces carried out to build a more effective new structure of national defence. Today these processes are going on under special circumstances that we call financial crisis", Col. Kereša said, adding that “these changes have made it entirely clear that Hungary is a provider of security, not only in the present but also in the future". The doyen of the attachés concluded his speech by reminding the participants of those soldiers who discharge their duties far away from their homes and families, in the service of peace and stability.