On the last day of his visit to the United States of America, Minister of Defence István Simicskó travelled to Tampa, Florida where he had discussions with Gen. Joseph Votel, Commander, United States Central Command (US CENTCOM) and Maj.-Gen. Marcus Hicks, Chief of Staff, United States Special Operations Command (US SOCOM).

During the discussion with Gen. Joseph Votel, Mr. Simicskó said that Hungary highly appreciates the US military’s logistic support for the operational role of the Hungarian Defence Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Minister of Defence emphasized that “Hungary will be continuing its engagement as long as it is necessitated by the principle »together in, together out«. To our country, the stability of Afghanistan is especially important because it is one of the main sources of migration to Europe”.

At the meeting, Gen. Votel emphasized the further development of cooperation and said that the United States applauds the operational role of Hungarian soldiers.

The Special Operations Forces (SOF) capability will continue to play a significant role in the development of the Hungarian Defence Forces, which are going to pay great attention to this capability in preparing the new military strategy.

Mr. Simicskó also held a discussion with Maj.-Gen. Marcus Hicks, where he stated that “our relationship with the US SOCOM is getting closer as a result of the development of the SOF capability, and we will soon send a Hungarian liaison officer to SOCOM. He will be working to achieve that the SOF capability of the Hungarian Defence Forces can become even more effective as part of the global SOF network”.

(Ministry of Defence)