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Minister Sklenár at V4 Defence Ministerial: "Talks with our partners from the V4 and Germany confirmed their shared interest in continuing to deepen our regional defence cooperation"

Ministry of Defence of The Slovak Republic

11.06.2023

During today's first working session of the two-day V4 Defence Ministerial in Štrbské Pleso in the High Tatras, Defence Minister Martin Sklenár hosted talks with partners from the Vysegrad Group plus Germany on issues of common interests in the field of defence and security, including on how to make their mutual ties deeper and NATO's Eastern Flank stronger, which also calls for bringing defence plans up to date.

Ahead of the high-level defence meeting, Defence Minister Sklenár held bilateral defence talks with the German Federal Ministry of Defence Parliamentary State Secretary, Ms Siemtje Möller. He expressed his appreciation for Germany's continued interest in the security of Slovakia, especially for its initiative to make the Bundeswehr's capabilities available to bolster Slovakia's defences. He informed her about Slovakia's intent for fast-track procurement of short range and very short range air defence systems and thanked Germany for gifting the MANTIS systems to Slovakia, hence giving it an additional boost to control its airspace.

Speaking at the SVK-DEU bilateral defence talks, Defence Minister Martin Sklenár said: "Germany is a strategic partner for Slovakia and the other V4 countries and I am delighted to see that our cooperation within international organisations and multilateral talks is increasingly being brought up to the practical level, and this is especially true in enhancing the nations' defence capabilities and supporting their defence industries."

Minister Sklenár and Parliamentary State Secretary Möller agreed that the German-made Leopard BMTs - which are now in service with all V4 countries - offer a window of opportunity for a further deepening of regional defence cooperation. Slovakia is getting 15 Leopard 2A4 MBTs as a gift from Germany for having transferred 30 of its BVP-1 infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine under an arms swap deal. In addition, Germany is planning to transform its contingent in the NATO Battlegroup in Slovakia with a reinforcement of Leopard MBTs.

Whilst building on the B9 Defence Ministers Meeting in April, at today's V4 + Germany Working Session, Defence Minister Martin Sklenár, German Federal Ministry of Defence Parliamentary State Secretary Siemtje Möller, Polish Ambassador to Slovakia Krzysztof Strzałka, Czech Deputy Defence Minister Daniel Blažkovec, and Hungarian Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky covered NATO and EU support for Ukraine and the official positions of the V4 countries ahead of the NATO Summit in Vilnius. According to them, the summit's conclusions may lead to a further strengthening of the transatlantic bond and collective strength.

Speaking about the NATO Vilnius Summit, Defence Minister Martin Sklenár said: "The summit will afford an opportunity to clearly voice our interests directed towards reinforcing our capabilities and to send out a clear signal that we remain committed to supporting Ukrainian defenders in their bid to retake Russia-occupied territory."