Hungary has its role and place in NATO. We have various missions and due to their nature we contribute to establishing peace in different regions thus indirectly to the defence of our country, – said Mr Tamás Vargha in Székesfehérvár on 27th November.

The Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence opened the conference “NATO in focus – NATO in schoolbags” emphasising that the preparation of new generations and introducing these missions and new challenges to them is a permanent and never-ending task.

The objective of the conference organised by the Székesfehérvár branch of the Honvédség and Society friendship society, supported by the Ministry of Defence, the Joint Force Command of the HDF, the city municipality, and NATO Secretariat General was to assist education and defence training in schools to present and popularise Hungary’s involvement in the activities of the international organisation through providing comprehensive and current information.

The school directors and teachers invited from all over Hungary had a chance to listen to several lectures on the structure and functioning of NATO, on the role of Hungary within the Alliance and on methodology of integrating the presented information into teaching material.

In his lecture the representative of NATO Secretariat General Mr Zsolt Rábai said that “the youth today – if asked about NATO – can only associate it with military and peacekeeping. However, this Alliance is much more than such notions. It also involves security, common defence, joint military and political actions in case of necessity, and the list is endless. These all should be presented to the growing up generations.”

At the conference it was declared that in 2014 competition “What is NATO?” will be organised for secondary-school students.

(Ministry of Defence)