Czech and Slovak defence ministers initiate work group to consider military cooperation

The Czech and Slovak defence ministers have initiated a new work group to consider options for military cooperation between the two countries. Meeting in Prague on Thursday, the Czech minister Alexandr Vondra and his Slovak counterpart Ľubomír Galko agreed that transport aviation and airspace defence were two areas in which greater military cooperation was feasible; the new team will also discuss collaboration on surface logistics and military training, science and research. Mr Vondra said he expected the team’s first results in late November, with basic proposals to be ready next year. Collaboration with Slovak soldiers, he said, could also be an option should the Czech Republic redeploy special forces to Afghanistan in 2011, where the involvement of Czech, Slovak, Polish and Croatian military police is expected.