MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE IRELAND ON THE ENHANCEMENT OF BILATERAL ENGAGEMENT ON CERTAIN ASPECTS OF DEFENCE AND SECURITY CO-OPERATION The Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (hereafter "the UK”) and the Department of Defence of Ireland (hereinafter “Ireland”) and together referred to as “the Participants”; a) Acknowledging the depth of ongoing interaction and interdependence between our two countries in ensuring the relative security of our respective territories and our citizens and in this regard, progressing the defence related issues as outlined in the Work Programme 2013/2015 agreed between Irish Secretaries Genera! and UK Permanent Secretaries at their meeting of 18 -19 September 2013; b) Acknowledging the longstanding cooperative arrangements already in place for military staff meetings in support of the mutual exchange of information and experience, including on training, between the armed forces of the participants to support capability development, mutual understanding and operational capability for crisis management. c) Reaffirming the broad, strong and long-standing bilateral relationship between the Participants, their common security challenges and experience working alongside each other, including their Armed Forces engagement on UN mandated peacekeeping and crisis management operations; d) Recognising the long-standing shared interests, values and responsibilities of the participants and their common and shared commitment to multilateralism in international relations and to the pacific settlement of international disputes: e) Resolved to build on and strengthen the existing strong links between the armed forces of Ireland and the UK; f) Mutually recognising and supporting the primacy of the United Nations Security Council in the maintenance of international peace and security;