Defence Minister Csaba Hende held discussions with Christian Schmidt, the Parliamentary State Secretary of the German Federal Ministry of Defence on the opportunities of expanding the scope of German–Hungarian military cooperation.

At the meeting the two partners discussed the possibility of an agreement on logistics, which will become a timely issue with the planned troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014.

The Hungarian–German military diplomacy relations are outstandingly good. These relations have increased further in intensity over the last few years, mainly thanks to ongoing cooperation in the areas of operations in Afghanistan and Kosovo. The HDF Provincial Reconstruction Team (HUN PRT), – which is deployed in Afghanistan – has received Kevlar helmets and operational laptops among other things from the German side. The Hungarian Defence Forces make a medical “professional staff” available to help the Germans in Afghanistan and Kosovo.

The German politician arrived for a two-day visit in Budapest at Csaba Hende’s invitation. On Thursday he gave a presentation on the current issues of security policy at the German-language Gyula Andrássy University Budapest (AUB).

(MTI)