NATO Conference Held in Budapest

Text: defence.hu | Photo: Ákos Pintér, Gergely Bóta | 11:22 July 11, 2025

Hungary is a reliable member of the Alliance, takes the development of the armed forces seriously, and meets the NATO Capability Targets – stated General Dr. Gábor Böröndi, Chief of HDF Defence Staff on the margins of the conference “Corps Land Enablers and Development Synchronization” (LEADS) organized by the NATO Allied Land Command (LANDCOM) in Budapest, Hungary.

Speaking about the meeting held in Castle Bazaar, the Chief of Defence pointed out that the participants looked into how the NATO member states of the region – including Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania – have synchronized their own plans with NATO’s defence plans, how these countries fulfil their commitments, and what forces and equipment are available to them for attaining the objectives set by NATO.

“We have examined how we can support each other, and identified further possibilities of cooperation, even with other member states. Our objectives are to find a common language in all situations, and to have working interoperability, within which our procedures, mindset and task execution rest on a common basis and are built on similar principles.”

“We are honored to see that this was the first time when General Christopher Donahue – the U.S. Commander of NATO Allied Land Force and Commanding General of United States Army Europe and Africa – had requested the capital of Hungary to organize this conference and personally chaired the meeting, which was given particular emphasis after the NATO Hague Summit” – said the Chief of the HDF Defence Staff, who announced to the participants of the meeting that the Székesfehérvár-based Headquarters Multinational Division Centre (HQ MND-C) – established by the Slovak, Croatian and Hungarian armed forces – had achieved Full Operational Capability (FOC) and its subordinate units had been brought to full strength. With this, Hungary has completed one of the capability targets set by NATO.

“The area of land cooperation has taken a big step forward, and I think that we have served the security of Hungary and the region through organizing this conference as well” – pointed out General Böröndi.

General Böröndi also said that Hungary is a reliable member of NATO, takes its force development goals seriously, and conducts its tasks of preparation, training, procurement and transformation as a member of the eastern flank. Filling NATO’s defence plans with forces is currently in progress with the Hungarian Defence Forces actively participating in this process, whereas Exercise Adaptive Hussars 2025 in this autumn will be a test of NATO cooperation in practice.