The 4th Bilateral Hungarian-Italian National Armaments Directors’ Meeting was held in Budapest between 23rd and 24th May 2012. Lieutenant General Claudio Debertolis, Defence Secretary of Ministry of Defence of Italy and his delegation arrived in Hungary for the invitation of Mr Gábor Márki, Deputy State Secretary for Defence Economy of Ministry of Defence of Hungary.
The main aim of the conference was to strengthen the active bilateral relations established in 2010 between the National Armaments Directors of the two nations and furthermore to discuss the actual topics of armament and defence industry cooperation.
In the honour of the Italian delegation Csaba Hende, Minister of Defence of Hungary held a ceremonial meeting, on which Maria Assunta Accili, ambassador of Italy in Budapest and Archbishop Alberto Bottari de Castello, Apostolic Nuncio to Hungary also took part.
The first day was held in the Non-Commission Officer Academy. The Parties gained further knowledge about the past and the present of the Academy on the Training Field Csobánka. Dynamic and static demonstrations have been presented regarding the C-IED and demolition capabilities of the Hungarian Defence Forces. The Szentendre base of the Academy gave home to the official meeting.
Gábor Márki in his welcoming speech emphasized that mutual trust and understanding, bi- and multilateral cooperation, and also Smart Defence are important to reach the desired success. In his answer General Debertolis highlighted that the excellent Italian-Hungarian relations give good basis to the fruitful cooperation. He indicated that he would catch all opportunities in order to reach common achievements. Significant result of the meeting is that in accordance with the HADIK Plan Hungary will organise a Defence Industry Conference with participation of the decisive defence industry players of the two nations in the second half this year. In the end of the meeting the Parties agreed to meet every year so as to discuss the most relevant bilateral issues and to deepen the cooperation as well.
On the second day General Debertolis was invited for an office call by Lajos Fodor, Administrative State Secretary of Ministry of Defence, and by Balázs Hidvéghi, State Secretary for External Economic Relations and International Affairs of the Ministry of National Economy. The visit ended on the Pápa Air Base where the participants have been informed about the capabilities of the NATO Airlift Management Agency, the Heavy Airlift Wing and the NATO Strategic Airlift Capability as well.
(Ministry of Defence; Deputy State Secretary for Defence Economy)
