NATO Defence Policy Directors To Meet In Budapest

Mr Jirí ©edivý, NATO’s Assistant Secretary General responsible for defence policy and planning also attends the event. The members of the Hungarian delegation are Mr József Bali, State Secretary for Defence Policy, MoD, Mr Zsolt Nagy, Head of Department, Department for Defence Policy, MoD, and Mr Péter Siklósi, Head of the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Hungary to the NATO. At the first working session NATO’s new strategic concept was discussed. The drafting of the new strategic concept began last autumn, and it is expected to be signed off at the Lisbon summit in the second half of the year.

The current concept was drawn up in 1999, therefore due to changes in security environment NATO will reflect to new challenges to security in this new strategic document and identify its tasks and objectives in light of these new challenges.

The opening address was delivered by Sir Stewart Eldon, the former Ambassador of the United Kingdom to NATO. During the conference defence policy directors will examine NATO’s possible defence transformation objectives.

The second working session will focus on the Afghanistan operations of the alliance, the possibility of Afghans taking responsibility for security duties, and the improvement of civilian-military cooperation. The discussion will begin with the thought-provoking presentation of Lieutenant General Karl Müllner, the Defence Policy Director of the German defence ministry. The last time Hungary hosted a high-level NATO event was October 2008, when the defence ministers of the alliance held a two-day informal meeting in Budapest.