Minister Naď: With Bulgaria, we share common interests that we want to pursue as part of our European and trans-Atlantic partnership

Today (3 June 2022), Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď had the pleasure of receiving Minister of Defence of the Republic of Bulgaria Dragomir Zakov for talks at MOD Main Building in Bratislava. Their conversation was dominated by a range of themes, covering SVK-BGR bilateral defence cooperation, the security situation as Russia wages war of aggression against Ukraine, and the current processes at the level of the Euro-Atlantic community.

Defence Minister Naď said that Slovakia and Bulgaria are linked by more than regional closeness and shared values. "We are faced with similar threats, we must come to terms with a multitude of hybrid menaces, but we also need to modernise our armed forces,” said Minister Naď, citing their solidarity for the sorely tried Ukrainian people as proof of the Slovak and Bulgarian geopolitical anchor. According to Mr Naď, mutual dialogue with Bulgarian partners has always been very stimulating and open, as evidenced by today's bilateral meeting.

On institutional defence cooperation, Naď emphasised that Slovakia and Bulgaria want to work together not only at the bilateral level, but also as part of the EU and NATO, saying: “With Bulgaria, we share common interests that we want to pursue in these organisations as their members.”

On SVK-BGR military-to-military links, he noted that the Slovak Air Force and the Bulgarian Air Force have been collaborating by sharing expertise on the U.S. F-16 Fighter Jet Procurement Programme, which both countries consider to be among the most important modernisation projects in decades.