The Minister of National Defense, Nikos Dendias, today, Tuesday, November 12, welcomed the Minister of Defense of Zambia, Ambrose Luigi Lufuma, to the ministry as part of his official visit to our country.

As it was announced, present at the reception, but also at the talks between the two delegations, were the Deputy Minister of National Defense Giannis Kefalogiannis, the head of the General Defense Forces General Dimitrios Houpis, the head of the General Directorate of Military Operations Lieutenant General Georgios Kostidis, the head of the General Directorate of Defense Vice-Admiral Dimitrios-Eleftherios Kataras PN and the head of the General Air Marshal (I) Demosthenes Grigoriadis.

In the private meeting that the two ministers had, as well as during the meeting between the two delegations, they had the opportunity to exchange views on the geopolitical developments in the wider region, as well as on the prospect of strengthening defense relations between Greece and Zambia.

Mr. Dendias and Mr. Lufuma signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) concerning the study of Zambian Military Personnel in Higher Military Educational Institutions of our country.

The Memorandum is part of the general framework of strengthening relations with countries of the African continent, which is extremely important for Greece, through defense diplomacy.

Soon it is expected that the opportunity will be given to sign similar Memoranda – which are in the final stage of processing – with other African states (such as with Cape Verde, Rwanda, Mozambique).

Also, the procedures for negotiating and signing military training Memoranda with other African states have already started.

“The Memorandum“, underlined Mr. Dendias, “is a first step towards establishing defense cooperation between our two countries and is part of the broader framework of our defense diplomacy for the African continent, which is very important to us».

“Ta Our General Staffs can specialize the areas where this cooperation can take place. Areas where we could cooperate are the training of students from your Military Schools in our own Military Schools, exchange visits which could also have the dimension of knowledge sharing, joint participation in multinational exercises, initially with observers, and your participation in the emerging defense innovation system in Greecehe added.

“Greece is proceeding with a major reform of the Ministry of Defence, of the Greek Armed Forces. We have called it “Agenda 2030”, and we would be happy to share with you the lessons that have led us to this major reformhe pointed out.

The official visit of the Zambian Defense Minister will continue with visits to military schools in Athens and Thessaloniki.