Conference on the Training System of the Alliance in Budapest

“The session of the Training Group and its themes are very important for us. Not just because we are members, but also because not so long ago we embarked upon different peace operations as a NATO Member State," – Lieutenant General Dr. Gábor Böröndi noted, recalling that in the 90s the Hungarian Defence Forces was engaged in several peace-keeping missions. On the closing event of the NTG’s session the Deputy Chief of Defence recounted that the acquisition of the peace-operation studies was a challenging task for our Motherland and the Hungarian Defence Forces opening to the Western countries at that time. Therefore the communication between the Member States of the Alliance still plays a significant role, the same way as the mutual exchange of information of the centres dealing with the peace operations and the trainings preparing for missions. As for the future of Hungary and the Hungarian Defence Forces, he highlighted that the challenges have not declined, as these days the task-system of our army – together with that of the NATO Members States – seems to move away from the peace-keeping missions, and is once again returning to the conventional warfare.

As he underlined, the Zrínyi 2026 National Defence and Armed Forces Development Program supports these endeavours. Lieutenant General Dr. Gábor Böröndi pointed out that the objective of the program is to enhance the capabilities and capacity of the Hungarian Defence Forces, which begins with the renewal of the way of thinking in the first step, but also the increase of the fighting value of our armed forces is given an important role.

NATO Training Group (NTG) was originally formed in 1970 with an aim to enhance professionalism, interoperability and standardization among Alliance and partner forces through improved co-ordination of education, training, exercise and evaluation, with particular emphasis on supporting operations. In one of the three Task Groups operating within the NATO Training Group (Partnership Training andEducation Centres (PTECs) an active role has been played by the HDF Peace Support Training Centre (HDF PSTC) since 2016. In reply to the question of the honvedelem.hu, Colonel László Drót, the Commander of the Szolnok Centre, and also a member of the working group said that the fact that the annual second meeting of the group was organised with the contribution of the HDF Peace Support Training Centre (HDF PSTC) in Budapest this year, is a great honour, and is also an evidence of trust towards Hungary and the Hungarian Defence Forces.

“It is a privilege for us that we could organise this session, as this is such capability of the Centre that we could not put to the test earlier on the international level" – Colonel László Drót said. Due to the success, we can know right away, that next year the meeting of another similar working group can be hosted by the Centre – even in Szolnok. “In recent days we have seen that there is a continuing need for peace-support operation training centres and for mutual exchanges of experiences" – he added.

During the event the representatives of sixteen nations deliberated about the guidelines of the NATO peace support operation training. The key objective of the meeting was to ensure that the participants have adequate space and opportunity for the discussion of the different training and education issues, and for the review of information included in the uniform standards. Within the latter procedure, the working group issued their opinion on the modifying proposals of the Member States, and prepared the updates of the different training subjects. In addition, that the Hungarian Defence Forces as a new member increasingly participates in the standardisation procedures, the working group sessions provide an excellent opportunity for the HDF Peace Support Training Centre to continue and further enhance the already earlier formed the good relationships with the training centres of other nations.