During his meeting with Slovakian Minister of Defence Peter Gajdoš on Thursday, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó expressed his thanks for the assistance provided by Slovakia to protect Hungary’s southern border “when we were under the greatest pressure”, the Ministry said in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI.
In the statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said: the two countries are working in close cooperation within NATO. Slovakia has begun its accession to Hungary’s NATO Centre of Excellence for Military Medicine, the statement added.
The Ministry also mentioned that cooperation between the Hungarian and Slovakian air forces is being continuously expanded, and the two countries are sending 150 military personnel each to the Baltic in shifts this year to assist with military training, in addition to which the two countries are also jointly taking part in NATO’s mission in Afghanistan.
The two countries are committed supporters of NATO expansion and UN peacekeeping missions, the statement also stressed.
In addition, Hungary and Slovakia are also jointly setting up the V4-EU battle group by the second half of 2019 and are paying particular attention to facilitating stability in the Western Balkans in view of its determining significance with regard to the security of the whole of Europe, the statement reads.
Peter Gajdoš is in Hungary at the invitation of Hungarian Minister of Defence István Simiskó, and the two defence ministers have been discussing security policy issues, the Visegrád Group, illegal immigration and military relations between Hungary and Slovakia.