NATO Defence Ministers discuss progress on fight against terrorism and deeper NATO-EU cooperation

NATO Defence Ministers today discussed the Alliance’s progress and further course of action on the fight against terrorism and intensifying the NATO-EU cooperation on hybrid threats.

Defence Minister Peter Gajdoš said: “Within the Alliance, we remain committed to fighting terrorism. The operational deployments of our troops on international crisis management missions and operations under the umbrella of NATO are part of this commitment.” He added that Slovakia supports NATO’s involvement in the fight against terror through training and advisory activities in the world’s unstable regions, including Iraq, where NATO will continue to coordinate its steps with the Iraqi government.

The fight against hybrid threats was named by NATO Defence Ministers and their partners from Finland and Sweden as one of the priorities of NATO-EU cooperation. Information sharing on hybrid attacks exists between both organisations, and the cooperation on cyber exercises is being developed.

That day NATO HQ also hosted the Visegrad Four (V4) Defence Ministers Meeting with the United Kingdom. “The aim of the meeting was to coordinate the V4’s future cooperation with the United Kingdom after the UK’s exit from the European Union,” said Defence Minister Peter Gajdoš. The meeting was concluded with the signing of the Joint Communiqué of the Ministers of Defence of the Visegrad Group and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.