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Minister Černochová met with Dutch Minister Ollongren to discuss ammunition initiative and sign MoU

Ministry of Defence & Armed Forces of the Czech Republic

19.4.2024

The Ministry of Defence was the venue to a meeting between the Czech Minister Jana Černochová and Kajsa Ollongren, Minister of Defence of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The meeting focused on defence cooperation and aid to Ukraine. A Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries was signed on this occasion.

"I wish to thank Minister Ollongren for the great cooperation on the provision of aid to Ukraine. In this endeavour, the Netherlands is one of our most important partners. Thanks to the Dutch Government's financial contributions, it was possible to deliver to Ukraine large amounts of urgently needed military materiel, including heavy equipment, while other joint projects are ongoing," said the Minister and added that mutual cooperation has proven to be very effective. "It is now absolutely key to sustain western military support. Ukrainians have been very creative in combat, but without the provision of weapons and ammunition, they will not be able to resist long," she said.

The Czech ammunition initiative currently covers the procurement of approximately 500,000 pieces of artillery ammunition and the ambition is to deliver 800,000 rounds by the end of 2024. The Kingdom of the Netherlands decided to contribute EUR 250 million with discussions being now held on their contribution to a specific project. This support was confirmed today through the joint signature of the Memorandum of Understanding. The Czech Ministry already forged agreements with Denmark, Canada, Portugal and Latvia in this vein.

During the meeting, Minister Černochová also appreciated the joint deployment of Czech and Dutch troops to strengthen Allied presence in NATO's Eastern Flank: "Our service personnel are deployed together within the Multinational Battle Group in Lithuania, thus demonstrating our unity and strength towards Russia. A wide participation of NATO Allies is vital."

Minister Černochová further underscored that the defence industrial cooperation between the two countries was truly promising, including the cooperation of Czech and Dutch industries within the European Defence Fund. The Czech Republic is also interested in establishing cooperation between the University of Defence in Brno and the Dutch University of Technology in Delft, for example through students internships.

The cooperation between the two countries also spans veterans care and maintenance of war graves. Regarding this topic, the Czech Ministry has been in contact with the Netherlands Veterans Institute since last year and Minister Černochová emphasized in the meeting that the Dutch veterans care system is an inspiration to the Czech Republic. Moreover, the Czech Ministry recently recognised Dutch organisations and individuals who contributed to the recovery of the wreckage of the RAF Vickers Wellington T2990 aircraft, which belonged to the No. 311 Czechoslovak Squadron and was recovered alongside the remains of its five-member crew, so that they could be properly buried.