V4 Planning Group Session in Budapest

The most important tasks of the head of department-level body are to coordinate the military capability development efforts of the Visegrád Four (V4) countries and identify the areas where there is opportunity for joint development or joint procurement by harmonizing the V4 national and NATO capability goals. The event organized by the MoD Defence Policy Department was attended by leaders and experts in charge of strategic planning at the Czech, Polish and Slovak ministries of defence. The Hungarian delegation was led by Maj.-Gen. László Domján, Head of MoD Defence Policy Department.

During the discussions, the participants reviewed the results achieved since their previous session, and discussed main current issues of capability development in the framework of the EU and NATO. As part of this, they finalized the draft of an agreement on the establishment of a jointly operated logistic support command to be declared to NATO, whose official signing is expected to take place on the margins of the next NATO Defence Ministers Meeting.

The participants also reviewed the capability development matrix which comprises the possible future fields of cooperation between the V4 countries. The document provides the strategic planning, force planning and force development experts of the four countries with opportunities to identify potential areas of cooperation as early as possible on the basis of shared information, thereby enhancing cooperation between the Visegrád Group countries.

In addition, the representatives of the four countries reviewed the details of a joint standpoint on the concept development related to the EU Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), and discussed current issues in the transformation of the NATO command system ahead of the NATO Summit in July.