09.04.2024.
Assistant Minister Bandić at CEDC + Meeting of Defence Policy Directors
Acting Assistant Minister for Defence Policy Predrag Bandić has participated in a meeting of defence policy directors from the Central European Defense Cooperation (CEDC) member states, the Visegrád Group and the Western Balkans countries, held in Balaton, Hungary.
The meeting discussed priorities and activities for 2024, during the Hungarian chairmanship of the Central European Defence Cooperation, as well as the current security challenges in the Western Balkans and the prospects for the region’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration.Most of the participants expressed their concern about the halt in the region’s European integration and emphasized the need to urgently speed up the process. They also stressed that these processes should take a faster pace, bearing in mind the ongoing conflicts around the world and the need to preserve peace and stability in Europe.
Hungary, which takes over the presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2024, has created a calendar of the Central European Defense Cooperation activities, which reflects the region’s need for cooperation.
The main conclusion from the meeting is that this format has proven to be very successful in terms of the exchange of opinions on important matters relating to security and defence, and that greater cooperation and joint actions should be considered in the period to come. On the side-lines, a meeting of political directors in the Krems format was held, during which a joint document was signed including cooperation activities to be carried out by the Western Balkans region and the Republic of Austria in 2024.
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