NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation Visits Hungary

The official program started with a courtesy call to Minister of Defence Csaba Hende on April
19, then Gen. Dr. Tibor Benkő, the Chief of the Defence Staff received Jean-Paul Paloméros
at a closed-door meeting. During the plenary discussions, the two partners discussed the
current issues in the Smart Defence (SD) Initiative, which was launched by the NATO
Secretary General in early 2010.

The SD Initiative means a renewed culture of cooperation, a tool which adapts well to
shrinking defence budgets and is being implemented in multinational projects. It is aimed at
preserving the efficiency and relevance of NATO’s capacity to take action in the world even
in a time of economic austerity.

In what followed, the two partners discussed the topics of “Forging the Future" (ie. issues
of future cooperation), the NATO Defence Planning Process, also touching on the NATO–
EU relations. The SACT was informed about Hungary’s approach to the issues of capability
development in NATO and the Central European region. The Hungarian side first gave a
short briefing about the figures of Hungary’s defence budget, then a presentation to inform its
NATO partner about the current state of the HDF Pápa Air Base.

Subsequently Deputy State Secretary for Security Policy Dr. Péter Sztáray received at a
courtesy call Gen. Paloméros and the members of his delegation in the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, then the guest laid a wreath by the Heroes’ Memorial Stone during a ceremony held
in Heroes’ Square.

The delegation also paid a visit to the HDF NCO Academy in Szentendre, where Col. Tibor
Deme, the chief of staff of the military organization received the guest. Gen. Paloméros was
first introduced to the citadel of Hungarian NCO training, then was given a picture of the
organization’s activities in the field of international capability development.

Photo: Mária Krasznai-Nehrebeczky