On Wednesday 22 June, the President of the Republic appointed Finland’s 72nd Government. At the same time, the President of the Republic released the ministers of Mari Kiviniemi’s Government from their duties.

From 13 to 15 April 2011 there was the annual meeting of Land Forces Commanders’ Committee FINABEL. This year it was particularly important to our country, since Lieutenant General Zbigniew Głowienka became the chairman of this assembly.

“Multinational cooperation has an increasing role in capability development. Joint effort may generate significant capabilities unattainable by national resources.” Róbert Kádár, Deputy Head of Armament and Quartermaster Office said in his opening remarks at the conference held at Stefánia Palace Cultural Centre, Budapest on 5 April.

The employees of Zrínyi Média have a new surprise in store for those placing their faith in Hungarian history. Today we publish our new English-language book in the Zrínyi Média Digital Library (you can find it at http://ekonyvtar.zrinyimedia.hu ):

Heads of State and governments, confirmed the expansion of sanctions against Libya at their extraordinary meeting in Brussels, on 11 March 2011. After the Council meeting, Head of the Hungarian Government, Viktor Orbán, welcomed the “cautious” declaration adopted, and stated that the EU must refrain from military operations that could result in losing the trust of Arab nations.

European Union defence ministers welcomed the start of the evacuation of EU citizens from Libya. Although the issue was not originally on their agenda, EU defence ministers discussed it with NATO’s Secretary General, at their informal meeting in Gödöllő, on 25 February 2011, and the EU’s High Representative said that sanctions should be considered against Libya.

Within the framework of “Georgian Defence Conference” (GDC) Georgian Minister of Defence Bacho Akhalaia has already held meetings with the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence, Doctor Celeste Wallander and Director General of International Military Staff of NATO, Lieutenant General Jurgen Bornemann. The topics of discussion at the meeting were global security and bilateral cooperation issues, NATO-Georgian relationship, ongoing ISAF operation in Afghanistan and the reforms being implemented in the Georgian Defence system.

In accordance with the rotating chairmanship principle, Sweden will chair the NORDEFCO for 2011, taking over after Norway. During the year, Sweden will continue to develop the cooperation and pay special interest to the cooperation in on-going operations, such as Afghanistan.

The meeting of EU Defence Policy Directors was held on 20 April 2011 in Brussels, in order to prepare the forthcoming meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Defence Ministers’ composition scheduled for May in Brussels.

On 12-13 April 2011 the International EUMS Deployability Conference took place in the MoD Military History Institute and Museum, Budapest, Hungary. This was the fifth EUMS Deployability Conference, after the ones held in Helsinki (Nov 06), Lisbon (Nov 07), Prague (Mar 09) and Seville (Mar 10). At this conference we had more than fifty participants from several multinational organizations and agencies as well as national representatives.

Major General Juha Kilpiä appointed as Head of Mission and Chief of Staff of UNTSO United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has on the 25th of March 2011 announced the appointment of Major General Juha Kilpiä as Head of Mission and Chief of Staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO).

Sixteenth Session of the UN Human Rights Council Geneva, 28 February 2011 Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland Alexander Stubb

The economic crisis forced several member states to cut their defence expenses, and unilaterally withdraw their troops from EU missions. In Budapest, Minister of Defence, Csaba Hende, said that the Hungarian Presidency thinks the temporary disadvantages, can be turned into advantages, if member states come up with innovative solutions to develop and maintain capabilities.

On Friday, 21 January, a ceremony took place at camp Film City in Priština, Kosovo, marking the awarding of prizes following a photo competition, organised by KFOR Chronicle Editorial Board last November for KFOR members. The competitors, whose photos referred to the subjects of KFOR members on mission, humanitarian activities, civil-military cooperation, and panorama landscapes, also included two members of the 22nd Slovenian KFOR Contingent.

On Monday, January 24 Defence Minister Dr. Csaba Hende paid a visit to Croatia at the invitation of Croatian Minister of Defence Davor Bozinovic and held talks with his counterpart in Osijek at a border meeting in the afternoon hours.

January 20-21, Chief of Defence of Lithuania Maj Gen Arvydas Pocius will attend the meeting of the Chiefs of Defence (CHODs) of the Nordic and Baltic countries in Estonia where his Danish, Estonian, Latvian, Norwegian and Swedish counterparts will also be present.