State Secretary Ondrejcsák holds talks with NATO and EU senior representatives
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- Date: 23.10.2017
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State Secretary of the Slovak Ministry of Defence R. Ondrejcsák paid a visit to the seats of NATO and the EU to meet with senior representatives of both Brussels-based organisations.
In a meeting with the NATO Assistant Secretary General for Defence Policy and Planning, Heinrich Brauss, Secretary Ondrejcsák and Secretary Brauss addressed NATO's adaptation to the evolving security environment and the progress achieved in the implementation of tasks following the Warsaw Summit. “Slovakia responded to the change in the security environment by drawing up new security, defence and military strategies. The new tasks call for capabilities of higher quality. These documents, too, reiterate Slovakia's commitment to spending 1.6 per cent on defence in 2020,” said the State Secretary.
With the NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy, Tacan Ildem, he discussed NATO communication strategies in a bid to make NATO activities as transparent and understandable as possible to wide audiences. In addition, they talked about the SVK MOD's participation in the Alliance-wide public information campaign – #WeAreNato– and ways to deal with damaging propaganda. On the public messaging, R. Ondrejcsák said: “Engaging in communications with the public and explaining what NATO means for us is crucial. In this way common people, too, will be able to compare facts against information offered by the so-called alternative media.”
With the NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Operations, Ms Burcu San, he discussed NATO's ongoing operations, the forms of the NATO training activity unfolding in Iraq, and Slovakia's involvement in it. They also touched on the recently finished CMX 17 exercise. “We confirmed the extent of Slovakia's engagement in NATO's training mission in Iraq in line with the SVK Parliament-approved mandate. For NATO, it is important not to retreat into its shell and, besides securing territorial defence as its key mission, not to neglect its activities to foster stability in the neighbourhood of the Alliance,” said the State Secretary of the SVK MOD.
On the EU premises he met with a representative of the European External Action Service (EEAS), P. Serrano, to review the status of progress made in the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) as a driver for European defence initiatives. The State Secretary said that this initiative for multinational cooperation on generating defence capabilities should be viewed as a consolidation of the European pillar of NATO, rather than investment in duplicate capabilities.
In a meeting with the NATO Assistant Secretary General for Defence Policy and Planning, Heinrich Brauss, Secretary Ondrejcsák and Secretary Brauss addressed NATO's adaptation to the evolving security environment and the progress achieved in the implementation of tasks following the Warsaw Summit. “Slovakia responded to the change in the security environment by drawing up new security, defence and military strategies. The new tasks call for capabilities of higher quality. These documents, too, reiterate Slovakia's commitment to spending 1.6 per cent on defence in 2020,” said the State Secretary.
With the NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy, Tacan Ildem, he discussed NATO communication strategies in a bid to make NATO activities as transparent and understandable as possible to wide audiences. In addition, they talked about the SVK MOD's participation in the Alliance-wide public information campaign – #WeAreNato– and ways to deal with damaging propaganda. On the public messaging, R. Ondrejcsák said: “Engaging in communications with the public and explaining what NATO means for us is crucial. In this way common people, too, will be able to compare facts against information offered by the so-called alternative media.”
With the NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Operations, Ms Burcu San, he discussed NATO's ongoing operations, the forms of the NATO training activity unfolding in Iraq, and Slovakia's involvement in it. They also touched on the recently finished CMX 17 exercise. “We confirmed the extent of Slovakia's engagement in NATO's training mission in Iraq in line with the SVK Parliament-approved mandate. For NATO, it is important not to retreat into its shell and, besides securing territorial defence as its key mission, not to neglect its activities to foster stability in the neighbourhood of the Alliance,” said the State Secretary of the SVK MOD.
On the EU premises he met with a representative of the European External Action Service (EEAS), P. Serrano, to review the status of progress made in the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) as a driver for European defence initiatives. The State Secretary said that this initiative for multinational cooperation on generating defence capabilities should be viewed as a consolidation of the European pillar of NATO, rather than investment in duplicate capabilities.
