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The Defense Ministers of the Visegrád Four countries discussed the war in Ukraine and the group’s cooperation in the field of the defense industry.
“Everything must be done to ensure that the war does not escalate and that the V4 countries, the European Union, and NATO are not dragged into it,” Defense Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky said at a meeting of defense ministers of the Visegrád countries (Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic) in Selmecbánya (Banská Stiavnica), Slovakia, on Tuesday.
The Minister said that Hungary is helping its Ukrainian friends in the framework of the largest humanitarian program in its history. He said that so far, nearly one and a half million people have arrived in Hungary.
“We condemn Russian aggression and uphold the importance of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,”
Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky stressed.
The meeting focused on the war in Ukraine, the current and future cooperation of the Visegrád Four in the fields of defense and the defense industry, force development, and the situation in the Western Balkans.
Polish State Secretary Marcin Ociepa, Czech Minister Jana Cernochova, Slovak Minister Jaroslav Nad, and Hungarian Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky (Photo via Facebook)
The Minister said that force development has become a priority in the region, and since 2017 Hungary has been implementing one of the largest force development programs in Central Europe.
“Within the V4 framework, there is also a good opportunity to conduct our procurement in a coordinated way which will contribute to the development of a common defense industry in Central Europe, and thus to the economic growth of the countries in our region,” he stressed.
Featured photo via Facebook/ MH 25. Klapka György Lövészdandár