Serious players of defense market can enter Ukraine - Ukrainian Armored Vehicles director general

Vladyslav Belbas confirmed the interest of companies from the United States in the Ukrainian military industry.

Ukraine has good chances to attract investments from the United States of America and other developed countries, these processes have already begun and are actively continuing. But at the same time, the Ukrainian side must remove certain important obstacles in order to improve the situation in the Ukrainian defense industry and win the war against russia.

This was stated by the director general of Ukrainian Armored Vehicles LLC Vladyslav Belbas during the Economic and Security Forum in Kyiv, the Telegraph publication writes.

"In the USA, the entire defense industry is built on private companies. And the private business is specific, which will work profitably to obtain some kind of profit - this is the capitalism that exists in the USA. If the Americans see prospects in our market, and I will say in advance, that they already see them, they will come here. Because, starting with the defense forum DFNC1, which was held in Ukraine in September, and after the MSPO exhibition in Poland, American companies began to actively look for partners in Ukraine, to analyze the market. Before the arrival of such a serious business certain companies' be-diligence is taking place in Ukraine, market's be-diligence is an in-depth analysis/research of the situation through various institutions. They are already doing it. And if they do it, it means the inevitable process of their entry," he said.

At the same time, as Vladyslav Belbas added, companies from Germany are now at the forefront of cooperation with the Ukrainian defense industry and are already organizing "joint ventures in Ukraine, actively developing this direction, and this shows a stable trend that will develop more actively in the future."

"But for our part, we need to work on information protection in particular. We now have all the information about the executors of the defense order in the public domain. For example, the locations of these enterprises, the location of facilities, etc. Russia does not even need to use spies or satellite intelligence, as it is publicly available on the internet. Google it and you have all the information. In the third year of the war, this needs to be cleaned up and such a negative impact needs to be leveled off. As we are now limited in international aid, our defense industry will be the point of survival for us. If it will not be there and if russian troops start to move on the offensive, then we do not have reserves to conduct a battle for 5-7 months. As far as I know, we have very short-term reserves for conducting hostilities," said the top manager of Ukrainian Armored Vehicles.

At the same time, according to him, Ukraine also needs to think about liberalizing arms exports abroad. After all, if the domestic industrial complex can produce some products, and they are ready to buy them abroad, then it would be logical and necessary to sell Ukrainian weapons, bringing foreign currency into the country. This will improve the economic situation in Ukraine and stimulate domestic production. Also, as Belbas added, in the absence of export restrictions, nothing prevents Ukrainian companies from relocalizing production abroad, in the same Poland.

"A long-term war exhausting economies. And if in manual mode they do not allow the export of any products, you are screwing up income for the state... It is very important not to overregulate in this process. We are already seeing the outflow, and the drone manufacturers are doing it the fastest. For them to leave from Ukraine - very quickly. But then you will not drag these companies to Ukraine, relatively speaking, with tanks. Poland has favorable taxes, a simplified system of doing business, it is easier there, there is less bureaucracy. I guarantee 100% that all manufacturers who will go from here, they will not return. We have to fight for this. These are the means that will help us fight now and, I think, will give us the opportunity to win the war," Vladyslav Belbas summed up.

Earlier, Telegraph wrote that Germany plans to build at least four weapons production plants in Ukraine in 2024. They will produce not only military equipment and shells, but also air defense systems.

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