In the light of the visit of Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak to Slovakia, the two countries seem set to advance military relations. Barak arrived to Slovakia on Friday and talks with his Slovak counterpart Lubomir Galko circled round three potential options of co-operation.
Slovakia has offered the Israeli army the option to use specialised training facilities in Lest in the Banska Bystrica region, as part of a bilateral training exchange programme. Another area of co-operation concerns bomb disposal, as Slovakia is building a NATO excellency centre in this area and Israel has a wealth of experience and expertise in it as well. The third area of co-operation has commercial ties, as it concerns training Israeli soldiers how to use the Bozena 4 mine-clearance machines, should Israel opt to buy these machines from Slovakia.
In any case, the ministers have agreed to set up a working group of experts from both countries to deal with practical and technical aspects of the new forms of co-operation.
Very fitting! While Dubnica carries on manufacturing cluster bombs it only makes sense here in Slovakia that Slovaks would joint venture with Israel on programs regarding bomb disposal and mine clearance machines. The ‘ministers’ however will certainly fail to address such trivialities with the ‘experts’ :).