Hungary, as the presidency nation of the Visegrád Group (V4) hosted the next regular meeting of the National Armaments Directors of the Visegrád Group. The Czech, Polish and Slovakian participants of the meeting – the National Armaments Directors of the partner countries – arrived upon the invitation of Deputy State Secretary for Defence Economy and National Armaments Director Mr Zoltán Borbíró, PhD.
The Hungarian delegation was headed by the host of the meeting Mr Borbíró, and it also included the Head of the MoD Department for Armaments and Asset Controll with his deputy and a group of delegated experts.
On the first day of the two-day event the participants informed one another on the activities conducted by Materiel Working Groups also dealing with related logistic fields in the recent period of time. They also discussed the current state of joint equipment development including further opportunities and the analysis of joint participation and mutual support in third countries.
The agenda of the meeting included a detailed presentation on the MoD managed, government owned companies, including their capabilities. On the first official day of the meeting – in the framework of bilateral talks – opportunities were provided for deepening the relations between the participants and discussing the current issues in details.
On the second day of the meeting the delegations paid a visit to the premises of the Electronics, Logistics and Property Management Company (HM EI Zrt.) and that of HM Currus Zrt. MoD managed, government owned companies, where the participants had a chance to get an insight into the capabilities presented the previous day, and in the most recent trends of development. At the premises of HM EI Zrt. a detailed briefing was given on the dual-purpose biological laboratory developed by the company, which could be closely scrutinised.
In the Gödöllő premises of HM Currus Zrt. an insight was given in the life of a defence company, in the motor-vehicle and fighting-vehicle repair and modernisation activities comprising the primary profile of the firm. The newly developed versions of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), their command and control systems, and the multipurpose bus and truck developments were also presented.
When closing the meeting Mr Borbíró evaluated the event as successful and expressed his hope that the work done in the previous two days might further improve the existing good relations, the precise and practical introduction might create new market opportunities for Hungarian defence industry, and new prospects might open in bi- and multilateral cooperation.
(Ministry of Defence)