Defence Minister Martin Sklenár meets Canadian Ambassador-designate Cheryl Cruz for talks on expanding defence cooperation
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- Date: 21.09.2023
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At the Slovak Defence Ministry in Bratislava today, Defence Minister Martin Sklenár met the Ambassador-designate of Canada to Slovakia, Her Excellency Cheryl Cruz, for talks on a range of issues including the war in Ukraine, NATO's processes in progress, Slovakia's future contribution to NATO's enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) in Latvia, the modernisation of the Slovak Armed Forces, and the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda.
At the beginning of the meeting, the head of the MOD welcomed the opening of the Embassy of Canada to Slovakia. “I believe this decision will contribute to further enhancement of bilateral ties between our countries, including in the field of security and defence,” Minister Sklenár said in light of the fact that Canada has in recent months upgraded its diplomatic missions to a number of NATO's eastern flank countries, including to Slovakia, to full-fledged embassies.
Both sides highly appreciated their operational deployments to Latvia as part of NATO's eFP, where Slovak and Canadian service personnel are working side by side with other allies. According to Minister Sklenár, the Slovak Armed Forces have gained valuable experience in building the NATO Battlegroup Latvia under Canadian leadership.
Defence Minister Martin Sklenár said: “I am convinced we, together, have been successful in fulfilling the goal of demonstrating the Allianceʼs unity, deterrence and readiness for collective defence. Slovak service personnel have served with NATOʼs eFP in Latvia since 2018. Currently, 131 SVK military personnel along with their artillery capabilities – ZUZANA 2 self-propelled howitzers – are deployed there.”
At the end of the meeting, the partners touched on cooperation opportunities to further the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. The SVK MOD and the Armed Forces have above average results in voluntary quotas for women in managerial roles in comparison with other countries. And yet, admittedly, the MOD has insufficiently met the goals arising from the National Action Plan on WPS. “We would welcome close cooperation with a partner like Canada, which has long-term experience with the WPS agenda as this is still a new area for us,” Minister Sklenár said.
At the beginning of the meeting, the head of the MOD welcomed the opening of the Embassy of Canada to Slovakia. “I believe this decision will contribute to further enhancement of bilateral ties between our countries, including in the field of security and defence,” Minister Sklenár said in light of the fact that Canada has in recent months upgraded its diplomatic missions to a number of NATO's eastern flank countries, including to Slovakia, to full-fledged embassies.
Both sides highly appreciated their operational deployments to Latvia as part of NATO's eFP, where Slovak and Canadian service personnel are working side by side with other allies. According to Minister Sklenár, the Slovak Armed Forces have gained valuable experience in building the NATO Battlegroup Latvia under Canadian leadership.
Defence Minister Martin Sklenár said: “I am convinced we, together, have been successful in fulfilling the goal of demonstrating the Allianceʼs unity, deterrence and readiness for collective defence. Slovak service personnel have served with NATOʼs eFP in Latvia since 2018. Currently, 131 SVK military personnel along with their artillery capabilities – ZUZANA 2 self-propelled howitzers – are deployed there.”
At the end of the meeting, the partners touched on cooperation opportunities to further the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. The SVK MOD and the Armed Forces have above average results in voluntary quotas for women in managerial roles in comparison with other countries. And yet, admittedly, the MOD has insufficiently met the goals arising from the National Action Plan on WPS. “We would welcome close cooperation with a partner like Canada, which has long-term experience with the WPS agenda as this is still a new area for us,” Minister Sklenár said.
