Together, we Can Be Much Stronger and More Effective

CHoD Lieutenant General Ferenc Korom officially handed over V4 presidency to his Slovakian counterpart, Lieutenant General Daniel Zmeko in the MoD Institute and Museum for Military History (MoD IMMH) on Wednesday morning. Our country has held the Presidency of the Visegrád countries since last summer. At the joint press conference Lt.-Gen.Ferenc Korom, Lt.-Gen. Daniel Zmeko, Lt.-Gen. Aleš Opata, the Czech Chief of Defence and General Leszek Surawski, the Polish Chief of Defence signed the joint closure declaration of the meeting. Then, Lt.-Gen. Korom handed over the wooden hammer, symbolising the Presidency to Lt.-Gen. Zmeko.

In his summary the Hungarian Chief of Defence expressed his thanks to the Member States, and wished every success to Slovakia to the Presidency. He considered the current meeting as successful, and the past one year as fruitful and useful. “The regional military co-operation of these four countries is of vital importance for Hungary and the Hungarian Defence Forces, which in addition to complementing and enriching the joint work in the Alliance structure, strengthens our region, our security and our abilities to pursue our interests." – said Lt.-Gen. Ferenc Korom. As he highlighted, the V4’s co-operation is more important and stronger than ever in the present security environment, and it will further deepen.

In the course of its one year’s tenure, the Hungarian Presidency has sought to continue the processes started, and to explore new opportunities for co-operation e. g. in the areas of training-preparation or the joint commitments. Among the achievements, Lt.-Gen. Ferenc Korom mentioned the progress made in the area of the establishment of V4’s Joint Logistic Support Force Command. The Agreement on this topic was signed by the Defence Ministers of the four countries in Brussels at the NATO Ministers meeting on June 7-8.

Also, the compilation of the joint training catalogue has been going on for several years, which provides a wide access to information for the Member States helps the planning and effectively strengthens the joint exercises, moreover, with a cost- and resource-efficient approach.

Lt.-Gen. Korom underlined: it is a significant result that the many-years lasting planning work has been accomplished, the catalogue reached its final form, and also a decision has been made about the character of the contents as well. The tablet made so far, contains almost all the international exercises of the V4s: henceforward the parties can select and offer such exercises, which are proposed to be implemented first of all in V4 format. These will still be – of course – open to other NATO countries. “The factual uploading of the catalogue will be the task of the Slovakian Presidency, but this is the interest of all four countries, as together we can be much stronger and more effective" – pointed out Ferenc Korom. Regarding the V4 EU battle group to be newly set up in 2019, the Lieutenant General said: under the guidance of the Hungarian Presidency the planning work has been completed, the processes are proceeding at a good pace towards the realization.

Lt.-Gen. Daniel Zmeko promised that they will continue the steps taken by the Hungarian Presidency. From among the strategic objectives he laid a special emphasis on the strengthening of the interoperability of the V4 armed forces, the development of the joint EU battle group, and the enhancing of the co-operation between NATO and the EU. The Slovakian Chief of Defence praised the dynamic development of the V4s taking place in the recent years, and expressed his thanks for the past one year to Hungary and the Hungarian Defence Forces.

Lieutenant General Aleš Opata also highlighted the efforts of our country exerted in deepening the co-operation, and wished every success to Slovakia to the next one year. General Leszek Surawski mentioned among the most important results the new setting up of a joint EU battle group, and the development of the joint capability catalogue, and reaffirmed his commitment to the continuance of the work done so far.

The Polish Chief of Defence noted: the participation of the Ukrainian Chief of Defence in the meeting is the symbol of unity, and the V4s support the reform of the armed forces, and will provide effective support to this, as a developed Ukrainian Army is vital from the aspect of the region’s security. General Surawski also said thanks to Lt.-Gen. Korom for the professional organisation and for the high-quality work done in the past one year.

Photo of W.O. Lajos Szabó