Welcome ceremony of Slovak soldiers to take place in Camp Ādaži
On Friday, 7 April, Latvian Defence Minister Raimonds Bergmanis, Chief of Defence of the Latvian National Armed Forces Major General Leonids Kalnins, Slovak Ambassador to Latvia Peter Hatiar and Commander of 1st Mechanized Brigade of the Ground Forces of Slovak Armed Forces Brigadier General Vladimir Kuban will participate in the solemn welcome ceremony of the Slovak mechanized infantry company in Camp Ādaži.
As we reported earlier, the Slovak Armed Forces are sending 150-soldier strong mechanized company and motorized vehicles of several different types, including infantry fighting vehicles “BVP-2”, of the 13th Mechanized Battalion based in Levice this week to Latvia.
The mechanized infantry company of the Slovak Armed Forces is deployed in Latvia following the NATO Warsaw Summit decision on military engagement of Visegrad Group to help to strengthen the security of the Baltic region.
During the three-month rotation period Slovak mechanized company will have joint training with 1st Mechanized Infantry Battalion of the Latvian National Armed Forces Land Force Infantry Brigade, and take part in multinational training "Summer Shield XIV" and "Saber Strike 2017".
Deployment of the mechanized infantry company is Slovakia’s input in NATO’s collective security arrangements on Alliance’s Eastern border and is aimed at boosting the interoperability of troops.
As it was reported earlier, initial agreements regarding the rotational military presence of Visegrad Group in the Baltic region were reached during the meeting of foreign ministers of Baltic, Nordic and Visegrad Group countries in spring of 2016.
As agreed, this year’s rotational presence of Visegrad Group soldiers in the Baltic region will be rolled out as follows: Czech troops deployed to Lithuania for January-March period, Slovak rotation in Latvia – for the second quarter, Hungarian rotation in Estonia for the third quarter and Polish rotation to Lithuania – in the fourth quarter.
Visegrad Group is an alliance formed by Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary in 1991.
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