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After meeting UK Minister of State for the Armed Forces James Heappey in London, Deputy Defence Minister Majer said: The United Kingdom is an important partner for us

Ministry of Defence of The Slovak Republic

13.09.2023

Deputy Defence Minister Marian Majer met UK Minister of State for the Armed Forces James Heappey for bilateral talks during the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) 2023, the premier UK defence event, at the ExCel Exhibition and Conference Centre in London on Tuesday 12 September 2023.

Among the talking points were the SVK-UK bilateral defence relationship with high levels of commitment and engagement in the long term, a range of Defence & Security issues, and joint NATO activities.

In a statement, Deputy Defence Minister Marian Majer said: "For us, the United Kingdom is not only an important ally in the North Atlantic Alliance, but also an important bilateral partner with whom we want to deepen our relationship and take forward our work across several areas of Defence & Security."

Deputy Defence Minister Majer praised the UK Armed Forces for deploying on international military exercises hosted by the Slovak Armed Forces, for example, on Ex Toxic Valley, as well as for delivering military training and education programmes to SVK service personnel.

The Deputy Defence Minister expressed his appreciation for the UK-SVK Joint Declaration to promote bilateral strategic cooperation, signed recently by the SVK Minister of Foreign and European Affairs and the UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs in London, and for the UK's contribution to the NATO Force Integration Unit Slovakia (NFIU SVK).

Also discussed were the outcomes of the NATO Summit in Vilnius, especially NATO's new defence plans. On this note, Mr Majer praised the adoption by the Alliance of an unprecedented package of military measures and the decision to strengthen NATO's eastern flank.

On the war in Ukraine, Marian Majer updated James Heappey on Slovakia's military support for the defence of Ukraine so far, including both military equipment and the training of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), reaffirmed Slovakia's intention to continue supporting its eastern neighbour over longer term horizons, and confirmed that Slovakia and Ukraine are currently identifying a new area of industrial cooperation on demining unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs).

As far as the production of ammunition for Ukraine is concerned, the Deputy Defence Minister raised the issue of extending the service life of artillery ammunition stockpiles as part of the EU's broader ambition to help Ukraine, and pointed to the ongoing efforts to shore up the Slovak defence firms' production capacity of 155mm artillery ammunition that Ukraine needs so urgently.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Marian Majer extended a reciprocal invitation to UK Defence partners to come and visit the International Defence Exhibition Bratislava (IDEB), taking place on 3-5 October 2023 in Bratislava.