Tibor Benkő: More Hungarian Troops Will Be in Kosovo and Bosnia
Szöveg: honvedelem.hu / MTI | 2014. november 27. 11:22More Hungarian troops are going to be deployed to Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina, in inverse proportion to the withdrawal of Hungarian forces from Afghanistan, Gen. Tibor Benkő said in Belgrade on Tuesday, November 25.
The Hungarian Chief of Defence held discussions about military-to-military cooperation with his Serbian counterpart, Ljubisa Dikovic in the Serbian capital. Tibor Benkő told us that both sides are interested in close cooperation. He added that Hungary has been a member of the European Union since 2004, and sharing the lessons learned may be useful for the Serb armed forces too, so it can more easily overcome the obstacles of accession to the EU. He also mentioned that the Centre of Excellence for Military Medicine (MILMED COE) operates in Hungary with the strategic purpose of facilitating medical capability building in NATO and developing interoperability among medical units. He expressed hope that in the future, cooperation with Serbia may start in this field too.
Speaking about the success of common exercises, Serbian Chief of Defence Ljubisa Dikovic noted that the troops conduct exercises in Hungary and Serbia in turns, and are co-deployed with UNFICYP in Cyprus. He also pointed out that around 300 Hungarian troops are serving with the NATO-led international peacekeeping Kosovo Force (KFOR).
Dikovic mentioned the Kosovo-related figures because Serbia continues to consider Kosovo its own province in spite of Pristina having declared independence in 2008.
You can watch a video of the press conference held by the Serbian Chief of Defence by clicking here.
Photo: mod.gov.rs
