Slovakia accepts the NATO Framework Nations Concept

Slovakia signed the NATO Framework Nations Concept (NFC) and thus repeated its readiness to build new NATO regional headquarter centres. It also signed a Memorandum on the establishment of a multi-national training centre for military helicopters, stated Slovak Defence Minister Martin Glváč during a two-day summit of Defence ministers of NATO members in Brussels. With the Framework Nations Concept, which Germany introduced to NATO in 2013 it hoped to develop multinational units that would, in theory, increase sustainability and help preserve military key capabilities. The implementation of the Readiness Action Plan, bolstering of collective defence and NATO's eastern flank, progress in building the NATO Response Force and NATO Force Integration Units (NFIU) as well as deployment of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) were also discussed at the meeting in Brussels. The ministers also discussed the progress in meeting commitments regarding increasing defence budgeting. "We'll gradually boost the Defence Ministry budget and will continue to support modernisation processes," said Slovak Defence Minister Glváč adding that Slovakia plans to bolster defence expenditures up to 1.6 percent of GDP by 2020, which approximates the NATO European members average.