On February 28, Minister of Defence Csaba Hende held talks in Beirut on the development of military relations between Lebanon and Hungary, and met the Hungarian soldiers deployed in the Middle Eastern country as well.

As a member of the Hungarian governmental-business delegation headed by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the Minister of Defence held discussions with his counterpart, Lebanese Defence Minister Fayez Ghosn. The two partners agreed that the development of military relations is a mutual interest because so far there has not been any real cooperation between the two countries in matters of defence policy and the military.

After his talks in Beirut, Minister Hende told Hungarian News Agency MTI that – as it had been announced by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán –, Hungary offered one hundred state scholarships to Lebanese young people so that they can be ambassadors of the Hungarian–Lebanese friendship for decades. He added that ten of these hundred students would study together with Hungarian officers at the Faculty of Military Sciences and Officer Training of the Hungarian National University of Public Service.  

The Minister also drew attention to the fact that since 2006, Hungary has been contributing troops to the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL), and currently four Hungarian military cartographers are deployed in the Middle Eastern country, which is very grateful to Budapest for this. Both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence met these soldiers in the capital of Lebanon. Minister Hende finally told MTI that he had invited his Lebanese counterpart to visit Hungary.

(MTI, Ministry of Defence)