Visegrád Group Held First Joint V4 Defence Ministerial Meeting in Erdőbénye
Defence ministers and deputy ministers of Visegrád Group countries held the first joint V4 defence ministerial meeting in Erdőbénye, in northeastern Hungary, on Friday to discuss military and defence policy issues, the challenges of hybrid warfare and planned cooperation in military health care.
Hungary’s Tibor Benkő told a press conference after the meeting that the defence ministerial programme for Hungary’s V4 presidency had been discussed and action plans had been approved for coordinating various procedures.
The importance of national defence capabilities was discussed with Slovak counterpart Jaroslav Nad, Polish deputy minister Wojciech Skurkiewicz and Czech deputy minister Jan Havranek, he said.
The strength of the defence system rests on nation states and national army development programmes are also built on them, he added.
Each country pays special attention to hybrid warfare, including cyber operations, and there was consensus about the importance of maintaining a system of reservists, he said.
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The Hungarian, Slovak, Czech and Polish delegations reviewed the experiences to be drawn from the Afghanistan mission and each of the four countries stated that they paid special attention to participation in African missions, such as the Takuba operations. The sides were also in agreement about the importance of maintaining peace in the Western Balkans which is also a priority for Hungary, he added.
Nad said the past 18 months revealed the importance of the army’s medical efforts and thanked Benkő for Hungary’s sending experts to Slovakia.
Havranek said the meeting confirmed that V4 cooperation was working well and while the V4’s joint efforts aim to promote an independent Europe, the participants do not want to weaken transatlantic ties either.
Source: MTI