On Friday, the June 3th in Prague, Minister Mariusz Błaszczak took part in intergovernmental Polish-Czech consultations, during which he met with the Czech Minister of Defence, Jana Černochova.

The defence ministers of Poland and the Czech Republic discussed the strengthening of military cooperation and the arms industry. The heads of the defence ministries discussed the cooperation within the framework of international formats: the North Atlantic Alliance, the European Union and the Visegrad Group.

“We would like to build on that state of affairs so that Polish orders, including Czech orders, have a positive impact on the amount of the products that we will order. We exchanged offers from the defence industries. The role of the Czech Republic in the next six months in the European Union will be so important that they will hold the EU presidency. In this context, we discussed the exclusion of deficit-rule defence spending. Coordination of the equipment owned is extremely important, then if we look at the cost of maintaining this equipment, and therefore the cost of servicing. This is undoubtedly beneficial to both of our sides. The exercises were, are and will be very intense between the Polish and Czech troops. I can say, for example, about the cooperation of special forces or artillerymen. The Czechs are present in the NATO command structures in Poland. We are also present together in Latvia, our soldiers serve shoulder to shoulder there"

- said the head of the Ministry of National Defence.

The topic of the talks was also the security situation in the region, with particular emphasis on support for Ukraine, which is defending itself against Russian aggression. In view of the upcoming NATO summit in Madrid, defence ministers were also discussing NATO's New Strategic Concept and the issues of further military adaptation of the Alliance.

“Our countries are active, also when it comes to supporting Ukraine. It can be said that Poland and the Czech Republic are among the leaders of these activities. Our talks also concerned the path of Ukraine's accession to the European Union, as well as the reconstruction of Ukraine after the war. We hope that the war will end with such a result that Ukraine will be an independent state like it is today. It is extremely important for the independence of Poland that that we would be neighbours with the independent Ukrainian state, and not with a state dominated by Russia in any way"

- said the minister.

During the meeting in Prague, defence ministers have signed an agreement on mutual cooperation in the field of defence.

>>> GALLERY - The head of the Ministry of National Defence during consultations in Prague