5000 runners took part in the NATO Partnership Running Festival

NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy Division Dr. Patrick Hardouin, Hungarian Minister of Defence Dr. Imre Szekeres and Minister of Defence for Bosnia Herzegovina Selmo Cikotic took part in the running festival, which included 20 km individual and relay running races, a 6.5 km historical relay race and a 4.2 city park race.  

A NATO amateur team composed of Eric Lebeau, René Moreau and Karel van Herreweghen also took the challenge.

The event was a highlight, not only due to the strong participation of local and visiting runners, but also because the event attracted participants from other NATO events held in Hungary this past weekend. It proved to be a concrete and practical example of partnerships with NATO. 

Participants from NATO countries, including Belgium, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland and Romania as well as from NATO Partners countries, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia¹, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine, also took part in the run.

As part of the weekend events, some 60 young people from Serbia and Hungary participated on October 6 in a NATO conference on the subject “Common Denominator; Euro-Atlantic Integration,” in Szeged, located in the border region between Romania and Serbia. The participants discussed issues relating to Serbia, the settlement of Kosovo's status and NATO’s involvement in the region.  NATO and Hungarian officials also participated in the discussions. 

The first NATO Partnership Running Festival had taken place in 2006, at the time simultaneously in Serbia and Hungary. Both events have been supported by NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division.