NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) Gen. Stéphane Abrial paid an official visit to Budapest, Hungary in the first half of February at the invitation of Gen. (Eng.) László Tömböl, Chief, MoD Defence Staff. Gen. Abrial paid a courtesy call on Defence Minister Dr. Imre Szekeres and Foreign Minister Dr. Péter Balázs. The French general also had talks with Gen. Tömböl and attended the NATO C-IED conference.

The results of the HDF transformation and the NATO SAC were high on the agenda of the bilateral talks the SACT conducted with Gen. László Tömböl during his official visit to Hungary. The Hungarian CHOD briefed his guest on the first experiences of the NATO MILMED COE that had opened in Budapest last November, and the envisaged means through which the Hungarian Defence Forces intend to expand their role in the system of NATO COEs.

Gen. Stéphanie Abrial opened the two-day NATO ACT C-IED conference held at Szentendre on 16-17 February. Nowadays IEDs account for a significant number of fatalities in theatres of war, therefore NATO pays special attention to the fight against IEDs and their makers. Besides the representatives of NATO member states and PfP nations, the representatives of EDA and the Contact Nations of ISAF, Afghanistan also attended the conference, thus the number of participants totaled approx. 150 persons from 21 countries. Most of the attendees were sent to take part in the meeting in Hungary by their own countries’ institutions, the NATO and EU organizations and military commands, while some of them arrived directly from the theatre in Afghanistan.

In his capacity as NATO SACT, Gen. Stéphane Abrial directs an intensive professional, scientific, methodological and training program within NATO which is aimed at defeating IEDs, the weapons that inflict the heaviest losses in modern-day conflicts. The general assumed office in the autumn of 2009 as the first-ever European top military leader who fills the position of strategic commander in NATO.

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