Visit from Brazil

At the press conference held after the meeting with Brazilian Minister of Defence, Celso Amorim, the Minister of Defence of the SR Martin Glváč stated that the cooperation between the Slovak Republic and Brazil has been in stagnation for the last 15 years, and it is time to dynamize the mutual relations. This was historically the first official visit of Minister Amorim to Slovakia and, at the same time, his only visit to any of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe this year.

“As for military matters, we have agreed on possible fields where we could cooperate, and these fields shall be further discussed by representatives from both sides. We have offered to Brazilian counterparts our outstanding Military Training Area Lešť and the Centre of Excellence in Trenčín, with a lot of trainings available. Simultaneously, I have informed my Brazilian partner about the situation concerning the Aircraft Repair Company Trenčín JSC and the planned international tender,” said Minister Glváč.

From the economic perspective, the Defence Department wants to present Slovak equipment in such way that it can be successful also abroad. For this purpose, the Department prepared an exhibition of military equipment. The Brazil’s Minister could see vehicles Tatra, howitzer Zuzana, demining system Božena, Aligator, remote detector of chemical and biological warfare agents and toxic gases, combat tower and communications system.

The Brazilian Minister confirmed that Brazil has great interest not just in bilateral cooperation, but also in broader collaboration of the countries in the region. “The aim of my visit is to map the situation and possibilities of future cooperation. For instance, we could cooperate within peacekeeping missions; Brazil always engages abroad only under the auspices of UN. Further, we are interested in training, for example, in the field of cyber defence and suchlike,“ said Celso Amorim. Brazil is also very keen on developing partnership ties with Slovak companies. „We are interested in some aspects concerning, for instance, unmanned aerial vehicles and their operation".

Besides an official gift, the head of Brazilian department was given an ice hockey jersey with his name on it. „We also talked about sports, and my Brazilian colleague knew that the no.1 sport in our country is ice hockey, and that’s why we gave him the Jersey, “ explained Martin Glváč.

The Minister of Defence of the Federative Republic of Brazil received a welcome with full military honours in the forecourt of the Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic in Bratislava, which was  provided by members of the Guard of Honour of the Armed Forces of the SR, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Roman Grnáč. The Military music band of the AF of the SR performed under the conductor’s baton of the senior officer Captain Boris Hokina.