The Minister of National Defence Panos Kammenos met with the French Minister of Defence Jean-Yves Le Drian in Paris.

After the meeting, the Minister of National Defence made the following statement:

“During my meeting with Mr. Le Drian, France’s Minister of Defence, we had the chance to discuss about all the subject matters of defence cooperation between the two countries in the context of NATO and European Union.

It is important that France has been standing by Greece since several years. We decided to promote synergies regarding training and exchange of Officers, NCOs and personnel of the Armed Forces, to promote common projects for the development of technology within the Armed Forces; to promote armament programmes which were launched several years ago and, in parallel, to involve the Hellenic Defence Industry in joint production with the French Defence Industry.

Regarding the state industry, the Hellenic Defence Industry will start talks about the joint production of French aircraft in Greece. A very large percentage of Greek private companies will also participate. Of course, another important fact is that, as far as defence programmes currently under way are concerned, we promoted the cooperation to solve issues regarding procurements which have been delayed for a very long time. A big damage has been inflicted to the Greek state due to cases, such as the NH-90 helicopters and, at the same time, the percentage of these systems which are held on the ground is much higher than the one provided for by NATO availability.   

I believe that, through the framework we have set for this cooperation, within the next months this lack of availability will be terminated and we will continue our cooperation at sea and in the air. Moreover, we will manage to reinforce the close relations between the two countries.”