On Monday, February 27, Mariusz Blaszczak, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of National Defense and Mario Banožić, Minister of Defense of Croatia met with soldiers stationed in Poland as part of the eFP initiative (Enhanced Forward Presence).

Poland is actively participating in NATO's eFP - enhanced Forward Presence - initiative and plays a distinctive role in it. It is one of the host countries, but it is also the state delegating its forces to one of the groups. It also forms a multinational divisional command in Elblag, which coordinates the activities of all the eFP groups. The eFP's main force consists of four NATO multinational battalion battle groups, deployed in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Each group was formed by a framework country, which are respectively: United States, Germany, Canada and the United Kingdom.

"Noteworthy is the fact that Croatian soldiers use artillery weapons, that is, an artillery unit is stationed here. We all know very well that the war in Ukraine shows how important artillery is on the modern battlefield. The task of NATO forces is to defend and deter, thus displaying that it is not worth to attack the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance. It also shows that the countries located in the other part of Europe, as in the case of Croatia, are in solidarity with the countries of NATO's eastern flank, jointly supporting the Allied defense system."

- Deputy Prime Minister M. Blaszczak noted.

"I wish to congratulate my colleague Mariusz and Poland for the huge role they have taken on at such an important moment for the entire NATO's eastern flank. This shows our ability to adapt within NATO. We also pledge our continued assistance to Ukraine"

- Minister Mario Banožić said.

The eFP (Enhanced Forward Presence) framework country in Poland is the United States, and the contributing countries are the United Kingdom, Romania and Croatia. Allied troops are stationed in Bemowo Piskie. The U.S. contingent in the eFP counts nearly 1,000 soldiers. The contingent forms the core of the "Polish" multinational battalion battle group. On a day-to-day basis, the NATO Battalion Battle Group interacts with the 15th Giżycko Mechanized Brigade, carrying out a number of exercises that have led to the achievement of interoperability in planning and conducting operations.

 During the bilateral talks, the ministers touched on defense cooperation and strengthening interoperability within the North Atlantic Alliance, as well as further support for Ukraine defending itself against Russian invasion.

"We talked on the subject of our cooperation, on Poland's activity in the Western Balkans, as this is also an expression of our common solidarity. We talked about cooperation within NATO, as well as in the European Union. Ahead of us, there is the NATO summit in Vilnius this year. This is an extremely significant event from the perspective of security. We also talked in the context of the support our countries are providing to embattled Ukraine. We agree that this process should continue. It is important for the security of Europe, but also of the free world, that the Russian empire is not revived."

- emphasized the head of the Polish Defense Ministry.

The visit of the head of the Polish Defense Ministry and the delegation of the Republic of Croatia ended with a presentation of equipment and armaments of the Battalion Combat Group's soldiers.