On June 25, 2010, Parliamentary State Secretary Zsolt Németh received Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, in the Foreign Ministry for a courtesy visit.

Lieutenant-General Tibor Benkő, the Chief of Staff of the Hungarian Armed Forces, also participated in the talks. At the meeting held in a cordial atmosphere, Mr Németh briefed the Admiral about Hungarian priorities in connection with the new NATO Strategic Concept, as well as the government’s ideas relating to Hungarian participation in the NATO missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo. As discussed at Foreign Minister János Martonyi’s meetings in Washington, Hungary plans to send further reinforcements to Afghanistan in 2010. Besides this, our plans are to maintain the current level of forces in Hungary’s contribution to the KFOR mission as long as the security situation requires it. The State Secretary added that Hungary, as a member of the EU and NATO, is steadfast in its commitment to further developing cooperation between the two organisations.

The Admiral said that NATO regards Hungary as a reliable and cooperative member of the alliance. He thanked Hungary for its role in NATO missions and, evaluating the situation, said that Hungary’s role in the Afghanistan mission is important while its role in the Western Balkans is defining.