Slovenia and Portugal for Boosting EU's Strategic Partnerships
The Slovenian and Portuguese defence ministers called for an enhancement of ties between the EU and NATO on Friday as they identified the defence priorities of theirs countries' successive presidencies over the Union.
Defence Minister Karl Erjavec and Nuno Severiano Teixeira also highlighted the need to boost strategic partnership with the United Nations, the United States, Russia and Africa.
Cooperation between the EU and NATO needs enhancing at political as well as technical levels, the two ministers told the press at Brdo pri Kranju following talks which focused on the priorities of the successive EU presidencies.
While Portugal will take over from Germany on 1 July, Slovenia will succeed on 1 January 2008.
The two ministers believe stability in Africa is important for security in the world and Europe, which is why they urged for stepping up democratic reforms, especially those that enhance security.
The pair also touched on the crisis in the Darfur region, pointing to the role of the African Union in the peace effort. They said African countries should be encouraged to try to deal with conflicts on their continent themselves.
As far as the Mediterranean dialogue is concerned, the two ministers agreed the EU should upgrade the initiative. Minister Teixeira announced that Portugal would organise an informal meeting of EU defence ministers with their counterparts from the Mediterranean dialogue, in particular North African countries.
The ministers also agreed on cooperation in armed forces' training. According to Erjavec, Portugal is keen on having its troops trained in the alpine conditions of the Bohinjska Bela army barracks, while Slovenia would like to train its soldiers in conditions that are similar to those in Africa, something that Portugal can offer.
More articles from this issue:
Archive
|