Minister Kotromanović received Ambassador of the Czech Republic

Ambassador Kühnl congratulated the Minister on the appointment noting very good bilateral cooperation between the two friendly countries.

Defence Minister Kotromanović thanked the Czech Ambassador and expressed confidence that the cooperation between the two countries in defence field, particularly in terms of training, would intensify.

We discussed the project of joint aviation training, which could be offered to other member states of the Alliance, but also to countries from the region. During the talks, they also mentioned the need for close cooperation between NATO and the EU in terms of their initiatives (NATO Smart Defence and EU Pooling & Sharing) in order to avoid unnecessary duplications and expenditure of limited resources. Minister Kotromanović thanked for the support of the Czech Republic during the Croatia’s EU accession process.

Minister Kotromanović said that Croatia was opened to support neighbouring countries in achievement of their Euro-Atlantic ambitions, stressing that the stable region was in Croatian interests.

Minister Kotromanović and Ambassador Kühnl also exchanged views on the challenges of defence reform and on the future activities of the defence sectors of the two friendly countries.