The Minister of National Defence, Nikos Dendias, along with the Secretary of State of the USA, Marco Rubio, attended today, Wednesday 7 October 2026, the signing of the Letter of Intent (LoI) for the cooperation between the Hellenic Armed Forces and Florida National Guard.

The letter was signed by the Chief HNDGS, General Dimitrios Choupis, and the Adjutant General – Florida, Major General John Haas.

The signing was also attended by the Ambassador of Greece to the USA, Antonios Alexandridis, the Ambassador of the USA to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and competent officers of the Armed Forces.

After the signing of the letter, Mr. Dendias stated:

“First of all, it is a great pleasure to welcome the Secretary of State of the USA, Mr. Rubio, to Athens, on behalf of the Ministry of National Defence and the Hellenic Armed Forces.

His presence here today underscores, signifies, and proclaims the close strategic relationship between the United States of America and the Hellenic Republic.

The Agreement that was signed a short while ago by the Chief HNDGS and the Florida National Guard adds a further dimension to our cooperation in the framework of the comprehensive reform of the Hellenic Armed Forces.

As you know, within the framework of the “Agenda 2030”, our Country is seeking the best practices to enable us to reach the desired operational level for both our Armed Forces, in the strict sense of the word, as well as our Reserves.

Therefore, within this framework, the transfer of know-how, joint exercises, and close communication with the Florida National Guard provide us with additional capabilities.

I would like to thank the General for that, Secretary Rubio for his presence here, as well as the Ambassador of the United States, Ms. Guilfoyle, who worked to achieve this outcome and to say that for us, the Hellenic Armed Forces, this is a very significant moment, that brings us great satisfaction.

Mr. Secretary, I welcome you and thank you deeply for being here today.

Thank you very much”.

The signing of the Letter of Intent ensures the participation of Greece to the American State Partnership Programme – SPP and the partnership with the Florida National Guard, establishing a long-term framework of cooperation and transfer of know-how.

The cooperation between Greece and Florida is expected to develop in fields of mutual interest, such as joint exercises, interoperability, command and control, joint fires and tactical manoeuvres, logistics support, air defence and operations, response to disasters, matters related to space, and cyber-operations. Furthermore, it might include reciprocal personnel visits, training activities, and the exchange of best practices, with miscellaneous activities being coordinated on an annual basis.

The next steps are to attain further expertise on the areas of cooperation, create an annual activity schedule, pay reciprocal visits, as well as gradually conduct joint training and other activities of mutual interest.