The Countries of the Defence Cooperation Initiative Met for the Seventh Time

Szöveg: General Staff of the Hungarian Defence Forces | 2018. szeptember 13. 19:04

The military leaders of the Defence Cooperation Initiative’s partner nations discussed the security challenges and the cooperation processes in Tirana.

Hungary was represented by Chief of the General Staff of the Hungarian Defence Forces (HDF) Lieutenant General Ferenc Korom and his entourage at the general staff level meeting of the Defence Cooperation Initiative – DECI. The Hungarian delegation was received by Brigadier General Bardhyl Kollcaku the Chief of the General Staff of the Albanian Armed Forces (AAF) in Tirana.

Lieutenant General Korom was negotiating with the Montenegrin, the Croatian, the Italian, the Austrian and the Slovenian Chiefs of Defence’s delegations in addition to the Albanian host’s in the Albanian capital, 13th of September. The Agreement on the Multinational Land Force – MLF was signed in 1998 by Italy, Slovenia and Hungary, with an aim to promote deeper military cooperation among the Central and Eastern European countries in the interest of strengthening the security and defence capabilities of the region, and to improve the conduct capabilities in the peacekeeping operations. MLF regularly performs joint military exercises named Clever Ferret. The Defence Cooperation Initiative was launched in 2012 at the MLF headquarters with the participation of Austria, Croatia, Italy, Slovenia and Hungary, to which Albania joined in 2016. The annual general staff level meeting of DECI was hosted in Bikács, Tolna County in September, 2017, in which also Montenegro participated.

The issues of the agenda of the this year’s meeting, in Albania, included among others the DECI-group’s idea about the NATO Framework Nations Concept, the DECI-cooperation in the stand-by period of the Italian-led EU Battlegroup, the Italian –led projects of the European Union’s Permanent Structured Cooperation – PESCO, and the regional threats caused by the illegal migration, the violent extremism and the external influences. In addition to the consultations, the MLF’s new general technical convention was signed jointly by the Italian, Slovenian and Hungarian parties. Concerning the meeting Lieutenant General Ferenc Korom highlighted that in parallel with giving primary consideration to the national interests; we should find the forms of cooperation, which are most advantageous for the Hungarian Defence Forces and for Hungary, and also have an added value for the defence of Hungary and the Hungarian people.

At the end of the meeting the participants formulated their commitment to further cooperation in a joint statement, and recorded the results achieved so far. The host of the Defence Cooperation Initiative’s next meeting in 2019 will be Montenegro.