15 May / 2024
The EU will open an innovation office in Kyiv at the end of 2024 to promote the growth of Ukrainian defense companies.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said this on May 6 in Brussels as he arrived at the EU-Ukraine Defense Industries Forum, according to Ukrinform.
“Europe’s defence ecosystem has a lot to offer, but also, has a lot to learn from Ukraine. We need to step up structurally our industrial defense capacities. This is key in a long war of attrition like this one,” Josep Borrell said in Brussels as he arrived at the EU-Ukraine Defense Industries Forum.
Borrell strongly supports the idea of the EU companies establishing arms production in Ukraine to save both on time and funds.
“There are more than 140 firms coming from 25 different countries, and the purpose is to match the capacities of the Ukrainian industry with the European industry, and to see what are the opportunities to use European funding, in order to produce more and quicker – if possible, directly in Ukraine. It is important that the production could be done in Ukraine by Ukrainian firms, supported by EU firms. We save transportation costs, and we produce immediately right where the production is needed,” Borrell said.
He added that at the same time, it’s raises a question of security which has to be ensured at such facilities.
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