On behalf of the ICDT, Ambassador István Gyarmati gave a lecture on the EU enlargement of the Western Balkans at the GLOBSEC Bratislava Global Security Forum, on April 19.

As a member of the Advisory Board of the Visegrad Defence Initiative, he was also invited to take part in the expert group discussion on the defence cooperation of the Visegrad countries. Another result of the meeting was the finalization of the Policy Paper on the establishment of a common Visegrad Battle Group, an EU military unit currently under preparation and aiming to instil a habit of permanent cooperation, and to provide the region with visibility. The idea behind the common initiative is to overcome defense planning challenges in our era of austerity, with the vision to rationalize defense planning, keeping in mind that a cooperation of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary could serve as an excellent example of deeper integration of countries that share common interests. The proposal presents not only the advantages, but also the possible pitfalls and difficulties that need to be considered. It is to be introduced for the press and on political level, as well.

On the premises of the GLOBSEC Conference, an appointed expert, Dr. Zsolt Illési, Assistant Professor at the Hungarian National University of Public Service took part in expert group meetings on cyber security cooperation among the V4 countries. The discussions were the first sessions of a longer expert work within the framework of two projects organized by the Central European Policy Institute (CEPI) in partnership with the ICDT, the „Cyber Security in the V4: Preparing for a New Reality (CSV4)" and the " Defence Austerity: A New Paradigm for Defence and Security Cooperation in the V4 Region (DAV4 II)"