Minister Gajdoš holds talks with Czech Minister of Defence L. Metnar

SVK Minister of Defence Peter Gajdoš today held talks with CZE Minister of Defence Lubomír Metnar in Valtice, Czech Republic. At their meeting, they discussed current issues of bilateral cooperation in the field of security and defence and appreciated the shift forward in the ongoing cooperation on delivering the inviolability of SVK and CZE airspace over and above the scope of the NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defence System (NATINAMDS). The meeting took place on the margins of the joint session of the Slovak and Czech governments.

Defence Minister Peter Gajdoš said: “The cooperation between Slovakia and the Czech Republic in the field of defence is at high level, which is evidenced not only by the common politico-military direction within the Visegrad Group, but also by the concrete steps to strengthen mutual cooperation in different areas of common interest.” In this respect, he highlighted the joint training and education options for members of both armed forces at the University of Defence in Brno or as part of the International Staff Officers Course (ISOC) at the M.R. Štefánik Armed Forces Academy in Liptovský Mikuláš.

Minister Gajdoš brought Minister Metnar up-to-date on the ongoing exercise Slovak Shield 2019, with the participation of Czech troops. He further underlined the cooperation between Slovak and Czech CBRN Defence specialists at TOXIC VALLEY 2019 and TOXIC LEAK 2019, as well as that on EOD operations at CETEX 2019.

Ministers also discussed the SVK and CZE deployments on international crisis management missions and operations as well as their NATO and EU commitments.