President champions transparency in military modernisation

At his meeting with Defence Minister Peter Gajdoš on Tuesday, President Andrej Kiska articulated his belief that Slovakia needs transparency from the first moment possible while keeping the need for confidentiality in mind, TASR learnt on the same day. Kiska stated his wish to have the modernisation of the military conducted in the most transparent fashion possible. "Modernisation is immensely important. The defence capabilities of our military are extremely low. With this process, it's also important to say how much modernisation will cost, who will do it and under what conditions. We're talking about a significant budgetary hike for defence," said Kiska, adding that the purchase of armoured personnel vehicles involves a commission worth €1.2 billion over a 13-year period.