Meeting of Training and Education Specialists

Brig.-Gen. Zoltán Apáti, the Chief of the General Staff Training and Education Directorate welcomed the participants of the conference. In his opening speech, he emphasized the importance of the Visegrád Cooperation and the significance of unified standpoints and actions in the military domain as well. He pointed out that the motto of the Hungarian presidency – “V4 Connects" – also refers to the common past of the region and the efforts to find joint solutions to challenges facing the V4 community.

On a Hungarian initiative, the conference – which is organized twice every year by the current presidency – was complemented with the field of education besides that of training. At the present conference, the program of V4 military training events and exercises was finalized and in the education panel, the Command Senior Enlisted Leader (CSEL) Course was introduced alongside the NATO-accredited English language courses of the National University of Public Service Faculty of Military Science and Officer Training. In addition, the participants of the conference learned about the distance learning concept of the Hungarian Defence Forces, and within this, the first module of the UN training material prepared by the HDF Peace Support Training Centre was promoted for testing. The above topics were added to the agenda of the conference due to the strengthening and synchronization of the V4 cooperation.

While exploring the training-related themes of the conference, the participants discussed the joint exercises and training events to be organized by V4 countries in 2018 and their schedule until 2022. Besides, they also analyzed the lessons learnt at Exercise Training Bridge, one of the most important recent training events which was held in Estonia.

Photo: Mária Krasznai-Nehrebeczky