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Additional MoUs to support defence industrial cooperation with Ukraine

Ministry of Defence & Armed Forces of the Czech Republic.

19.7.2023
Author: by editorial staff

Last week, Prague was the venue to the third meeting of the Czech-Ukrainian Intergovernmental Commission on Defence Industry. The Czech Republic was represented by Director General of the MoD Defence Industrial Cooperation Division Radka Konderlová, and Ukraine by Deputy Defence Minister and National Armaments Director Volodymyr Havrylov.

The meeting also involved additional officials of both parties: Sergei Boyev, Deputy Minister of Strategic Industries of Ukraine, and Aleš Vytečka, Director of the MoD Intergovernmental Defence Cooperation Agency. The Ukrainian delegation included experts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and representatives of Ukrainian state enterprises comprising the Ukraine Defence Industry holding (formerly known as UkrOboronProm).

Both parties agreed to deepen mutual cooperation on the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Czech MoD and the Ministry of Strategic Industries Ukraine on Defence Industrial Cooperation signed in Prague on 7 July 2023.

At the outset of the meeting, the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine expressed its sincere gratitude to the Czech Government for its general support to the protection of Ukrainian sovereignty, territorial integrity and all Ukrainian citizens against Russian aggression. The Czech Republic reaffirmed its strong commitment to a continuing support of Ukraine.

The Czech Republic proposed further cooperation in the following six areas:

1. Supplies of Czech defence industry products for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine;
2. The Czech Government's support relative to supplies of arms and military equipment from third countries;
3. Cooperation in the area of repairs and maintenance of heavy arms materiel and military equipment (main battle tanks, armoured vehicles, howitzers, rocket launchers) and repairs and upgrades of air platforms;
4. Cooperation in the Czech-Ukrainian defence cluster and its working groups as the basic platform for the realisation of projects;
5. Training of repair and maintenance specialist personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine;
6. Mine clearing in Ukrainian territory.

The Intergovernmental Commission session saw memoranda of cooperation signed between the Ukraine Defence Industry and Czech companies CZUB and Sellier & Bellot. The memoranda have resulted from longterm discussions among the businesses and provide a formal basis for the practical cooperation to start.

Both parties also agreed on approximating their defence innovation sectors to identify intersections for cooperation on research and development of new technologies, especially EDTs.

During the visit, the Ukrainian delegation also had a call with the Czech National Security Advisor, leading officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and visited 12 Czech defence industries with specific focus on heavy equipment, ammunition and aviation. The objective of those visits was to demonstrate the potential of Czech defence industries for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and, in some instances, also discuss currently pursued cooperative projects.