On Monday, March 18 State Secretary Tamás Vargha held talks in Ottawa on deepening the Canadian–Hungarian military cooperation. The Hungarian official of the Ministry of Defence met with the two leaders of the Canadian Defence Portfolio and the Chief Reserves and Cadets.

Tamás Vargha told Hungarian News Agency MTI on the phone that he and Chris Alexander, the Parliamentary Secretary of the Department of National Defence had surveyed the cooperation between the two countries in international military missions. The Hungarian state secretary stated that the lessons learned in Afghanistan were very important and that the NATO member countries must preserve their capability of cooperation. He informed his host that the “Visegrád Four” countries would set up a joint battle group by 2016 in the spirit of regional cooperation within the Alliance.

While the Canadian forces have already withdrawn from Afghanistan, the Hungarian Defence Forces continue to perform force protection tasks at the Kabul International Airport until December 31, and the Hungarian special operations contingent carries on with its mission as well, although the mandate of the Hungarian Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) will expire in March.

Speaking about Mali, Chris Alexander said that by assuming a role in the training of the military of Mali, Canada has already contributed to the military intervention against the armed groups of Islamist extremists. Hungary also joins the international intervention in the fields of training and health care, Tamás Vargha said.

During a meeting with Senior Associate Deputy Minister of National Defence Michael Martin, the Hungarian state secretary pointed out, among other things, Hungary’s willingness to continue the cooperation with Canada in the NATO Flying Training in Canada (NFTC) program. Chief Reserves and Cadets Rear Admiral Jennifer Bennett informed the Hungarian guest about the operation of the units under her command. Tamás Vargha spoke highly of the flexible management of the call-up of volunteers and the fact that unlike, for example, in the US National Guard, their service time is not exclusively decided by the command.

(Ministry of Defence)