The Deputy Minister of National Defense Mr. Nikolaos Hardalias made, on Friday 16 and Saturday 17 September 2022, an official visit to the Czech Republic, accepting the invitation of the Czech Deputy Minister of Defense for Industrial Cooperation Mr. Tomas Kopecny.

The Deputy Minister of National Defense participated in the “NATO Days 2022” meeting, organized in parallel with the “Czech Air Force Days 2022”, by the Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic and held at Leos Janacek Airport, in Ostrava. The events, which are public diplomacy meetings, were attended by Ministers, Deputy Ministers and high officials from European Union countries and member states of the North Atlantic Alliance.

On the margins of “NATO Days 2022″, Mr. Hardalias had a series of meetings with the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Mr. Petr Fiala, with his counterparts and with senior mission officials of other countries.

As part of the visit, the Deputy Minister of National Defense held an official bilateral meeting with his Czech counterpart Mr. Tomas Kopecny.

Messrs. Hardalias and Kopecny, in a cordial atmosphere, confirmed the strong traditional ties that connect Greece and the Czech Republic, as close partners in the European Union and allies in NATO. They had a constructive discussion on the perspectives, possibilities and ways of further strengthening the bilateral cooperation of the two countries in the fields of Defense and the Defense-Technical sector. They exchanged views on current global and regional developments, as well as their implications for security and stability in Europe, the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean.

The meeting ended with the two Deputy Ministers underlining their strong interest and their common will to strengthen the cooperation of the two countries at all levels within the EU and NATO, for the promotion of peace, security, stability in Europe, in the region of the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean, in a geopolitically unstable environment, with unprecedented multi-level and multi-dimensional challenges.