Statement by First Deputy to the Secretary of the NSDC of Ukraine Oleg Hladkovskiy

Today, the President of Ukraine has signed the Decree on amending the composition of the Interagency Commission on Defense-Industrial Complex under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, namely regarding the appointment of Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Brovchenko Yuri Petrovich as a chairman and the introduction into the Commission of the Director General of the "League of Defense Enterprises of Ukraine".

The Interagency Commission was created by the Decree of the President of Ukraine of June 12, 2015, №329 as the working body of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

In those hard times of rapid expansion of Russian aggression against Ukraine, it was of urgent necessity to take a set of measures to consolidate the efforts of state bodies and the country's defense-industrial complex in order to provide the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations with armaments and military equipment. And I believe that this task has been fulfilled.

All work of the Commission was aimed at addressing two key issues.

Firstly, it is the coordination of activities of the security agencies and the defense industry to ensure that armaments and military equipment are repaired and to begin the process of developing its latest samples. I can say frankly that despite the numerous challenges we encountered, this task was solved, and the military received the means to repel the aggressor.

Secondly, we tried to lay the foundations for further systematic work on the development of armaments and military equipment and the reform of the defense industry of Ukraine. The State Target Program for the development of defense weapons and military equipment till 2020, the State Target Program for reforming and developing the defense-industrial complex till 2021, the State Target Program for establishing and developing the production of munitions specialty chemicals till 2021 were adopted. As a result of joint and hard work, strategic directions for the development of our defense industry were outlined.

And I am grateful to the President of Ukraine for his confidence and the ability to carry out very challenging but highly responsible tasks for the construction of virtually a new defense-industrial complex.

Thanks to the measures taken, systematic work on the implementation of the approved decisions and execution of the planned documents is now underway.

At this stage, the President of Ukraine decided on the expediency of implementing these plans under the leadership of Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Brovchenko Yuri Petrovich as a representative of the Ministry, which prepares and summarizes the proposals on the formation and implementation of state policy in the field of operation and development of the defense-industrial complex.

I believe that it is necessary to further actively use the potential of this Commission since its members represent the legislative, executive branch, the expert and scientific environment, as well as the defense industry enterprises. Such composition of the Commission allows professionally assessing problem situations and providing relevant recommendations to prepare balanced decisions.

A few more words about changes in the Commission. By the Decree of the President of Ukraine, the Director General of the "League of Defense Enterprises of Ukraine" is introduced into the Commission ex officio. And this is not accidentally, as nowadays, the role of private defense enterprises in providing the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations with modern samples of armaments and military equipment is increasing. And their voice must be heard.

As for my further work, I continue to perform my duties as the First Deputy to the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine and focus my efforts on coordination in the field of military-technical cooperation and the work of the Interagency Commission for Policy in Military-Technical Cooperation and Export Control.

This is a critical direction, and our task is to provide the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other structures of the security and defense sector of Ukraine with weapons, military equipment, and property that are not produced by the defense industry of Ukraine. This direction will further be the top priority in the activities of the Interagency Commission for Policy in Military-Technical Cooperation and Export Control.

At the same time, very serious attention in the work of the Commission will be devoted to attracting foreign investment for the development and technological upgrade of the domestic defense-industrial complex.

Besides, the Commission will focus on simplifying the procedures to empower the developers and manufacturers of arms to carry out international transfers of military goods as well as on increasing the number of participants of the military-technical cooperation of different forms of ownership.

Thank you for attention.