Minister of Defence Csaba Hende and his Serbian counterpart Bratislav Gasic discussed opportunities of cooperation between the Hungarian and Serbian ministries of defence and current issues in security policy at their meeting in Belgrade on Thursday, 22 January.
“Hungary attaches outstanding importance to its relations with Serbia, which is shown by the large number of high-level meetings in the recent period”, Minister Hende emphasized at a press conference held after the meeting.
He added that “all things considered, the stabilization process of the Western Balkans is going in the right direction, but is not irreversible. There are some countries in the region that are facing very serious challenges. We are convinced that the Euro-Atlantic integration will provide the long-term solution”.
“Hungary is interested in making sure that the most prepared countries can join the organizations of the Euro-Atlantic integration as soon as possible”, the Hungarian Minister of Defence pointed out, adding that as of 1 March, a Hungarian officer is to start serving on the staff of the NATO Liaison Office in Belgrade.
It was also emphasized that there are plenty of opportunities in the training cooperation between the two countries, and that the defence industry appears to be one of the most fruitful areas of cooperation.
Serbian Minister of Defence Bratislav Gasic said that the Serbian and Hungarian troops’ joint participation in the UNFICYP mission in Cyprus had so far been the crowning achievement of the cooperation. He praised Hungary’s role in the NATO-led international peacekeeping Kosovo Force (KFOR) and identified cooperation in military education and pilot training as two future goals.
For six years now, Hungarian and Serbian troops have regularly been conducting joint exercises in order to learn about one another’s operational procedures and to develop cooperation for executing joint tasks.