We Must Preserve Common Military Capabilities
Szöveg: Gábor Kálmánfi | 2014. február 18. 15:46On February 18 Miloš Koterec, State Secretary of the Slovak Ministry of Defence and Tamás Vargha, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Hungarian Ministry of Defence met at the HDF Joint Force Command in Székesfehérvár to discuss current issues in defence policy and the scope of bilateral military cooperation.
The Slovak delegation was received at the Command
In this year’s session of the Slovak–Hungarian joint commission dealing with military and security issues, the participants discussed issues of cooperation among the member states of the European Union and the V4 countries.
Tamás Vargha said that the cooperation between the two countries had gained new impetus in recent years, and this is true to the sphere of national defence as well. “Setting up the European Union Battle Group until 2016 is a very important task, which offers excellent opportunities for cooperation. In mid-March the two countries’ Prime Ministers may sign the documents concerning the joint defence plans", the State Secretary said.
Tamás Vargha: there is increasingly closer cooperation between the two countries
Miloš Koterec pointed out that the meeting was an integral part of the friendly cooperation between the two countries.
“In recent years, our bilateral relations within the defence sphere have shifted to other grounds and are more and more intensive. We have expanded the scope of security and defence issues in the field of the V4 countries, and now we are building joint capabilities both within NATO and the EU. During our discussions we addressed the security issues concerning Ukraine and the region of Africa", the Slovak State Secretary said.
The meeting was attended, among others, by Brig.-Gen. Pavel Macko, the 2nd deputy of the Slovak Chief of Defence and Lt.-Gen. Dr. Zoltán Orosz, the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff
Answering our question, Tamás Varga told us that they are cooperating with the Slovak partner to implement the ideas about the vision of a long-term defence policy.
“With the end of the ISAF mission, NATO member states are thinking about how they could preserve common military capabilities in the future. We need to keep them at any rate, and an important means of this is joint practice and training", the State Secretary added.
Photos by the author
