At the opening of a military and security industry conference held in Budapest on Tuesday, 23 February, the Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) emphasized that no security risks should be underestimated.

Speaking about the most important recent security challenges to Hungary, Tamás Vargha mentioned the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the Paris terrorist attacks and the pressure of illegal migration, and underlined that we must prepare for a situation in which the already known crises would further deepen and persist, and also for the emergence of new crises and challenges. 

The State Secretary stated that new solutions are needed to deal with them. In his opinion, this year the two-day conference “Security Market” provides excellent opportunities for identifying new courses of action, preparing necessary plans and taking joint action. The experts attending the conference are discussing all aspects of the military, defence and security sectors.

The State Secretary called the development of Hungarian military industry an important goal, adding that Hungary’s dependence on foreign military industry suppliers must be significantly reduced in the interest of national defence and security.

Tamás Vargha said that the experts in the field of Hungarian military logistic security had already gave an early warning about the risks of multinational procurement of military equipment and the dangers of being exposed to foreign markets.

At present, the NATO and EU defence agencies are seeking solutions to this problem. Concurrently, negotiations on the topic have started in Hungary between the Ministry for National Economy supervising the defence industry as well as the Ministry of the Interior (MoI) and the Ministry of Defence.  

László Tasnádi, State Secretary for Law Enforcement at the Ministry of the Interior emphasized that they want to continue maintaining law and order in the country.

He said that the government is doing its best for ensuring law and order everywhere, but at the same time, he noted that joint work has so far been necessary to achieve this goal. He added that the efficient cooperation among the MoI, the police and the organizations of the Civil Guard is of outstanding importance.

At the same time, he also noted that at present, private investigation is a “fragmented profession”. “The time has come to renew it”, László Tasnádi said, adding that the MoI expects it to open up whole new vistas.

At the conference, Deputy Director General of the Counter-Terrorism Centre (CTC) Zsolt Bodnár also emphasized that the year 2015 has significantly changed Europe’s defence, especially in the field of counter-terrorist operations.

He also noted that from an operational point of view, the CTC has made significant progress in the recent period, and currently its SWAT units can reach any spot in a couple of minutes, 24 hours a day.

The Scientific Society of Economy (SSE), the Hungarian Association of Police Science (HAPS) and the Biztonsagpiac.hu Ltd organized the Conference and Fair “Security Market” for the third time. At the conference, leaders of state organizations and key companies of the private security market assess the current state and various aspects of Hungary’s security in light of last year’s events.

On Wednesday, the second day of the conference, the topics on the agenda will cover IT and information security, trends in security technology and the experts will also discuss the prospects in the field of insurance. 
The uncut version of the video of the event can be downloaded in the Press Room.

(Ministry of Defence)