Nad: Slovakia Wants to Cooperate More with Hungary in Area of Defence

Bratislava, September 26 (TASR) – Cooperation between Slovakia and Hungary in the field of defence is excellent, even a model in many areas, stated Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad (OLaNO) on Monday following his talks with his Hungarian counterpart Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky.

The two agreed that they’ll look for other forms of cooperation at the bilateral level or even within a wider framework, such as the Visegrad Four (V4: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia).

“I’m looking forward to our next discussion on the possibility of Hungary joining Poland and the Czech Republic in protecting Slovakia’s airspace,” said Nad. As part of the good cooperation between the two countries, the Slovak defence minister mentioned joint training, exercises in Slovakia and in Hungary as well as education. “Cooperation in the field of defence between our countries is very good,” he said.

Szalay-Bobrovniczky said that it was an important meeting at which the two ministers discussed bilateral relations. He also thanked Nad for his very active work within the Visegrad Four.

The ministers also discussed cooperation in modernising the armed forces. He believes that they’ll find joint solutions so that they can involve the Slovak and Hungarian defence industries in common activities. According to the head of the Hungarian Defence Ministry, modernisation in Hungary started several years ago.

“We also debated the situation in Ukraine, and I’m glad that there’s a clear agreement on this. We know who is the aggressor, and we want to bring about peace as soon as possible,” said Nad, pointing out that the countries have different attitudes in how they approach the situation in Ukraine. Szalay-Bobrovniczky said that even though they have different opinions, they both want peace in Ukraine as soon as possible.