Minister in talks in Brussels

In a Meeting of NATO Ministers of Defence in Brussels, SVK Minister of Defence Peter Gajdoš reconfirmed the commitments the Slovak Republic made earlier at the May NATO minisummit in Brussels. This means SVK service personnel will be engaged in the Baltics as part of NATO's enhanced Forward Presence (eFP). Most probably they will be under the command of the Canadian-led NATO Battlegroup in Latvia, which was a topic on the agenda of a multilateral meeting with the ministers of the involved countries. Moreover, he reiterated the interest in deploying a SVK training unit to Iraq, as well as stepping up defence spending with the aim of reaching 1.6 % of GDP on defence by 2020. Commenting on eFP, Head of the MOD said: “In connection with NATO's enhanced Forward Presence, today's meeting clearly attested to the unity and solidarity of the Alliance.”

Also addressed by Defence Ministers was the fight against terrorism. Depending on NATO requirements, we cannot rule out an increase in the actual troop levels within the valid mandate for the Resolute Support Mission (RSM) in Afghanistan. “Even in this case, it applies Together in, Together out,” emphasised Peter Gajdoš.

Ministers also held discussions in the presence of the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy / Vice-President of the European Commission Federica Mogherini. They agreed on the need to continue deepening and expanding NATO-EU cooperation. However, in furtherance of their objectives it is crucial for NATO and the EU to clearly delineate their tasks and to complement one another to mutual convenience.

At a signing ceremony, 12 countries signed a Letter of Intent to launch a new international cooperation framework on delivering precision-guided munitions, known as land battle decision munitions, for weapon systems fielded with Land Forces.