Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent discussions he has had with Kosovo counterparts on (a) strengthening defence and security collaboration and (b) industrial and armed forces cooperation.

As one of the first countries to recognise Kosovo’s independence in 2008, the UK has a strong bilateral defence relationship. We continue to play a leading role in the professionalisation of the Kosovo Security Force since its inception in 2009. Today our cooperation focusses on areas including training and exercising, defence education and defence reform. HMG also continue to explore future defence export opportunities to Kosovo. Alongside bolstering Kosovo’s security and resilience, this cooperation aims to support jobs throughout the United Kingdom and maintain our world-class defence-industrial base. Defence exports as well as bilateral defence cooperation were issues discussed when the Kosovan Director for Policy and Strategy met with UK Defence officials in the margins of DSEI in September.