NATO Ministers in Brussels
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- Date: 26.10.2016
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SVK Minister of Defence Peter Gajdoš joined the NATO Defence Ministers for talks in Brussels. The main topic was protecting NATO's external borders, which the Ministers consider to be one of the top priorities. Following the July NATO Summit in Warsaw and the September Informal Meeting of the NATO Defence Ministers in Bratislava, this was yet another meeting at the level of Heads of Defence Ministries.
“As part of our joint V4 initiative, our contribution to strengthening NATO's eastern borders will be a training activity in the Baltics. Up to 150 Slovak soldiers will be serving in Latvia in the period from April to June 2017. Also, I informed our Allies of our commitments being fulfilled in terms of increasing our defence expenditures. Next year they should go up by almost 13 per cent,” said the head of the SVK MOD.
As to strengthening NATO's eastern borders, Minister Gajdoš discussed the issue with the Canadian Minister of National Defence, Harjit Singh Sajjan. Canada is a NATO Lead Nation for one of the four combat groups, which are to operate in the Baltics. The topic of the discussion was potential lines of cooperation with Slovak troops who will be operationally committed in the Baltics as part of a training mission.
The Ministers also paid attention to the current NATO Command Structure. Several NATO Member States propose making the command structure more reflective of the current security situation in Europe. Among other things, the Alliance addressed providing further assistance to the Iraqi Security Forces in fields of demining and improvised explosive devices disposal.
“As part of our joint V4 initiative, our contribution to strengthening NATO's eastern borders will be a training activity in the Baltics. Up to 150 Slovak soldiers will be serving in Latvia in the period from April to June 2017. Also, I informed our Allies of our commitments being fulfilled in terms of increasing our defence expenditures. Next year they should go up by almost 13 per cent,” said the head of the SVK MOD.
As to strengthening NATO's eastern borders, Minister Gajdoš discussed the issue with the Canadian Minister of National Defence, Harjit Singh Sajjan. Canada is a NATO Lead Nation for one of the four combat groups, which are to operate in the Baltics. The topic of the discussion was potential lines of cooperation with Slovak troops who will be operationally committed in the Baltics as part of a training mission.
The Ministers also paid attention to the current NATO Command Structure. Several NATO Member States propose making the command structure more reflective of the current security situation in Europe. Among other things, the Alliance addressed providing further assistance to the Iraqi Security Forces in fields of demining and improvised explosive devices disposal.
