Minister of Defence in Brussels
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- Date: 15.02.2017
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At the NATO Defence Ministerial in Brussels, NATO Defence Ministers adopted a series of decisions in a bid to respond to current security challenges. Topics of relevance included the commitment of NATO member countries to follow through on their defence spending pledges and the continuity of NATO's operation in the Aegean Sea.
Allies affirmed that the transatlantic bond remains, even after the change of the US administration, strong. NATO Defence Ministers agreed that the EU must continue to play an import role in this field. Therefore, also in attendance at the meeting was the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission (HR/VP) Federica Mogherini.
Discussions also touched on the developments on NATO's eastern borders. The SVK Minister of Defence underlined that in light of the security reality it is inevitable to be equipped with state-of-the-art capabilities. He informed his colleagues of Slovakia having allocated considerable funding for modernisation and deliveries of military assets, and that this year alone the defence budget in the SVK REP has risen by 12 per cent.
Prior to the North Atlantic Council's meeting in Brussels, the Slovak and Czech Ministers of Defence, Peter Gajdoš and Martin Stropnický, signed Treaty between the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic for Cooperation on Mutual Protection of Airspace. The proposal to conclude the Agreement had been endorsed by the SVK Government as early as December 2016. The Agreement is still to be approved by the SVK Parliament and ratified by the SVK President. Once the Letters of Ratification have been exchanged, the Agreement will come into force on the first day of the following month.
Minister of Defence Peter Gajdoš stated that the Defence engagement between both countries in delivering the inviolability of their airspace will be mutually beneficial. He went on to add that the Agreement makes it possible to secure the airspace protection of one or the other Contracting State, if needed, even above and beyond the scope of their mutual cooperation on the NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defence System (NATINAMDS). On this occasion, Czech Minister of Defence Martin Stropnický underscored, among other things, the outstanding cooperation between the 2 countries.
The SVK Armed Forces' engagement in Latvia in the second quarter of 2017 and the bilateral Slovak-Latvian Defence collaboration topped the agenda of the talks between SVK Minister of Defence Peter Gajdoš and LVA Minister of Defence Raimonds Bergmanis, which were held in the margins of the NATO Defence Ministerial in Brussels. This year the V4 Group countries are deploying their training units to the Baltic States on a rotational basis. Minister Gajdoš confirmed that the deployment of up to 152 troops for the V4 training mission in Latvia has already received its approval from the SVK Parliament. He further reminded that the opening ceremony for the Slovak NATO Force Integration Unit (NFIU) took place at Vajnory Barracks earlier in January. The SVK REP has thus delivered on its commitment it made at the NATO Summit in Wales and confirmed when it formally requested the permission to establish the NFIU Slovakia at the NATO Defence Ministerial in February 2015. During the ministerial, the Head of the SVK MOD also participated in a meeting of the NATO-Georgia Commission.
Allies affirmed that the transatlantic bond remains, even after the change of the US administration, strong. NATO Defence Ministers agreed that the EU must continue to play an import role in this field. Therefore, also in attendance at the meeting was the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission (HR/VP) Federica Mogherini.
Discussions also touched on the developments on NATO's eastern borders. The SVK Minister of Defence underlined that in light of the security reality it is inevitable to be equipped with state-of-the-art capabilities. He informed his colleagues of Slovakia having allocated considerable funding for modernisation and deliveries of military assets, and that this year alone the defence budget in the SVK REP has risen by 12 per cent.
Prior to the North Atlantic Council's meeting in Brussels, the Slovak and Czech Ministers of Defence, Peter Gajdoš and Martin Stropnický, signed Treaty between the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic for Cooperation on Mutual Protection of Airspace. The proposal to conclude the Agreement had been endorsed by the SVK Government as early as December 2016. The Agreement is still to be approved by the SVK Parliament and ratified by the SVK President. Once the Letters of Ratification have been exchanged, the Agreement will come into force on the first day of the following month.
Minister of Defence Peter Gajdoš stated that the Defence engagement between both countries in delivering the inviolability of their airspace will be mutually beneficial. He went on to add that the Agreement makes it possible to secure the airspace protection of one or the other Contracting State, if needed, even above and beyond the scope of their mutual cooperation on the NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defence System (NATINAMDS). On this occasion, Czech Minister of Defence Martin Stropnický underscored, among other things, the outstanding cooperation between the 2 countries.
The SVK Armed Forces' engagement in Latvia in the second quarter of 2017 and the bilateral Slovak-Latvian Defence collaboration topped the agenda of the talks between SVK Minister of Defence Peter Gajdoš and LVA Minister of Defence Raimonds Bergmanis, which were held in the margins of the NATO Defence Ministerial in Brussels. This year the V4 Group countries are deploying their training units to the Baltic States on a rotational basis. Minister Gajdoš confirmed that the deployment of up to 152 troops for the V4 training mission in Latvia has already received its approval from the SVK Parliament. He further reminded that the opening ceremony for the Slovak NATO Force Integration Unit (NFIU) took place at Vajnory Barracks earlier in January. The SVK REP has thus delivered on its commitment it made at the NATO Summit in Wales and confirmed when it formally requested the permission to establish the NFIU Slovakia at the NATO Defence Ministerial in February 2015. During the ministerial, the Head of the SVK MOD also participated in a meeting of the NATO-Georgia Commission.
