The Hungarian Minister of Defence Csaba Hende took part on the two-day NATO Defence Ministers Meeting in Brussels, where he also held a bilateral meeting with NATO’s Secretary General.

At the ministerial meeting, referring to the disproportions between the individual member states’ defence budgets, with the United States’ contribution reaching three times that of the European countries altogether, United States Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta noted that his country would not be able to bear these burdens alone for a long time since it had to make substantial cuts in its defence spending as well. The Minister of Defence Hende stated that Hungary was striving to contribute to the joint efforts within its possibilities, stressing that with respect to performance, Hungary – proportionate to its size – belongs to the first third of the ranking. He added that the indicator concerning the ratio of the overall strength of deployable land forces to the strength of those actually conducting operations Hungary tops the ranking of NATO countries.

The Minister stated that Hungary has outstanding expertise and opportunities for training-related cooperation with respect to the military medicine capabilities and the counter-improvised explosive devices (C-IED) programs, also mentioning the existing Hungarian capabilities of the Special Forces. In his speech delivered at the NATO meeting, he called on the participants to improve the cooperation between the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Union among others, to avoid duplications.

On the margin of the NATO ministerial discussions in Brussels Minister Hende participated in the defence ministerial meeting of the Visegrád Four countries as well, where the participants discussed the priorities of the current Polish presidency and set the agenda for the next six months. The main topics of discussion included the EU Battle Group, which will be set up by the Visegrád Four countries by 2016.

Minister Csaba Hende also conducted bilateral discussions with Romanian Defence Minister Corneliu Dobritoiu. They reviewed the issues of cooperation, including the activity of the Hungarian–Romanian TISA Multinational Engineer Battalion, deployable for disaster response (primarily flood control) missions. They noted that the economic situation necessitated a significant reduction in the Romanian defence budget, which entails a comprehensive defence review.

Defence Minister Csaba Hende also invited NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen to pay a visit to Hungary next summer. The Secretary General thankfully accepted the invitation and according to plans, the visit next summer will coincide with the fourth anniversary of the Pápa-based Heavy Airlift Wing (HAW) which he will also visit.

(Ministry of Defence)