The joint-stock company Ukrainian Defense Industry (UDI) has saved almost UAH 50 million when jointly purchasing electricity in the Prozorro system for about 60 of its enterprises from the state-owned energy trader Energy Company of Ukraine JSC (EKU JSC).
According to a Ukroboronprom press release on Thursday, the total amount of the purchase exceeds UAH 1 billion.
“Six leading domestic electricity suppliers – both state-owned and private – took part in the auction, which was held in three lots. The competitive struggle continued until the last step of the auction. The winner was the state energy trader JSC “EKU”, – stated in the document.
As noted in “Ukroboronprom”, it is the centralized purchase of electricity, which did not take place, for example, in 2022, allows for significant savings.
“We are changing the procurement system of Ukroboronprom.” Savings are very important for us, because they can be directed to the development of the production potential of enterprises”, – said the Director General of “Ukrainian defense industry” German Smetanin.
In turn, as noted by Vitaliy Butenko, General Director of JSC “EKU”, whose words are quoted in the press release, the victory at such an important auction confirms the competitiveness of the state not only in the production of electricity, but also in the segment of energy trading.
“The intensification of competition due to the entry of the state energy trader into the market gives a win-win result. On the one hand – a significant reduction of state-owned companies’ expenditures on electricity procurement. On the other hand – an increase in the state’s revenues from trading in those segments of the energy market where it was almost absent before,” he added.
The state-owned energy trading company JSC Energy Company of Ukraine (JSC EKU) operates in the domestic and foreign energy markets. A modern trading platform is being created on the basis of JSC EKU, which will allow the state to become an efficient and competitive player in the energy markets of Ukraine, Europe and, in the future, in the global energy markets.
In recent months, the state concern Ukroboronprom has established the production of ammunition of “Soviet” caliber 122 and 152 millimeters, as well as mines of caliber 120 millimeters.
“Means of destruction have been successfully tested and are produced according to NATO technology. It is not the first month. It is dispersed at various facilities, including partner countries,” the concern said in a press release on Friday.
“Ukroboronprom stresses that the ammunition it produces should reduce the dependence of Ukrainian artillery on supplies from abroad, where stocks of Soviet caliber shells and mines are gradually running out.
The concern also reported that it is continuing its reform to transform Ukroboronprom into a modern high-tech defense company. As of today, more than two dozen state defense enterprises have been transformed into business companies, with the concern itself next in line, the release said.
“The reform will increase the transparency of the state defense sector, attract even more investment, transfer technology, create more joint ventures, including with NATO countries, and help secure the defense industry from corruption risks,” Ukroboronprom said.
It said it will jointly produce and develop heavy weapons and military equipment with companies from at least six NATO member states: Poland, the Czech Republic, France, Denmark and several more, the agreements with which do not provide for the disclosure of any data.
“We create joint defense enterprises, build closed-cycle ammunition production lines, jointly produce armored vehicles and multiple-launch rocket systems and develop new high-tech weapons. To do this, we use both existing facilities and newly created ones in safe locations,” Ukroboronprom stressed.
The concern added that in order to accelerate the development of existing international defense projects and the emergence of new ones, it agreed on further coordination with the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The State Concern Ukroboronprom and the Indian company Adani Group have signed a memorandum to expand military and technical cooperation.
According to the press service of the state concern, the document was signed on February 23 by Director General of Ukroboronprom Yuriy Husev and President of Adani Defense & Aerospace Ashish Rajvanshi. The memorandum is related to the development, exchange of technologies and the production of various weapon systems and military equipment.
“The memorandum is the first step towards fruitful cooperation, which we agreed on during the Aero India 2021 exhibition. The document will soon be filled with important projects,” Husev said.
According to him, this is about cooperation, in particular, in the aircraft building and radar areas.
The parties also agreed to develop a roadmap for the implementation of future projects.
Adani Group is an Indian diversified business conglomerate with six companies in the fields of energy, logistics, agribusiness, real estate, financial services, defense and aerospace
The state concern Ukroboronprom presents new military equipment and armaments of its own production at the International Defence Exhibition & Conference (IDEX 2021) in Abu Dhabi (the United Arab Emirates), which opened on Sunday.
“The exhibition will showcase a number of promising developments and products of the concern, such as a model of the Neptune ground anti-ship missile system and Vilkha high-precision jet system from the Luch design bureau,” the press service of Ukroboronprom said.
Neptune is a modern Ukrainian model of armament, which guided missiles are inconspicuous to enemy radars and are capable of destroying both ships and ground targets.
The Vilkha high-precision heavy multiple rocket launcher is considered one of the most powerful in the world in its class.
“Also, the visitors of the exhibition are offered natural samples of the Skif and Corsar anti-tank missile systems and a model of the Sokol-300 reconnaissance and strike drone, the concern said in the statement.
The concern said that IDEX-2021 will present the capabilities of the Oplot tank, which is the best in the world in a number of characteristics, the BTR-4 combat vehicle and other advanced developments of the concern member companies.
In total, more than a dozen natural and mock-up (large-scale) samples of military and dual-use products are planned to be presented at the Ukrainian stand. During the exhibition, a number of talks are planned with official delegations of various countries and international companies on further partnerships.
The exhibition will end on February 25. The concern’s delegation is headed by its General Director Yuriy Husev. The head of the Ukrainian delegation is Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Minister for Strategic Industries Oleh Urusky.
IDEX is one of the largest international military exhibitions, which is held under the auspices of the President of the United Arab Emirates.
More than 900 leading defense companies from 59 countries will present their stands in the pavilions of the National Exhibition Center in Abu Dhabi.
Ukraine is represented by nine defense industry enterprises, seven of which are part of Ukroboronprom.
The French government has allocated technical assistance to the Ukrainian state concern Ukroboronprom in the amount of about EUR 900,000 Aivaras Abromavičius, director general of the state concern, has said.
“This is a sign of confidence in Ukraine, it is a sign of confidence in the changes that are taking place now in the Ukroboronprom concern … This is an amount close to EUR 900,000, one of the largest amounts that the French government has allocated to Ukraine,” he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday.
According to Abromavičius, this assistance will be used to fight corruption and raise corporate governance standards.
“France’s technical assistance will be directed in two main areas. This is, firstly, the anti-corruption area, and secondly, the improvement of corporate governance standards. In the area of anti-corruption policy, we plan to carry out a comprehensive criminalistics, so-called forensic, audit on some processes, contracts, which, unfortunately, the financial audit does not have the opportunity to reach,” he said.
He said that the forensic audit reveals hidden schemes and frauds that look like legitimate transactions, but are actually fraudulent, and there have been a lot historically in the concern.
Abromavičius stressed that the allocated funds would help build the best corporate governance standards in Ukroboronprom, according to Western standards.
“Within the project, we plan to develop new principles of corporate governance both at enterprises and at the concern itself. This is a large-scale project that requires time, which requires not only our efforts, but, as I said, the support of international partners. Branches of government will be involved, as well as Ukroboronprom partners themselves,” he added.
Abromavičius said that the French Embassy in Ukraine would choose a consultant company from the Big Four, and it will help find the best model for organizing a business.
“That is, we are starting to build a modern company,” he stressed.
According to Abromavičius, the forensic audit process should take four months.
“But, unfortunately, this information will be more for the leadership of the country, for the leadership of Ukroboronprom and for law enforcement agencies,” he said.
The enterprises of Ukroboronprom concern exported $908 million worth of arms and services abroad in 2019, which is 19% more than a year earlier, said Aivaras Abromavicius, the head of the Ukroboronprom state concern. “Last year, our companies exported arms and services worth $908 million. This is a 19% increase over the previous year,” the head of the concern said on the Real Politics program on Ukraine 24 TV channel on Sunday.
Abromavicius added that Ukraine is not one of the ten largest arms exporters, while U.S. and Russian exports are ten times greater than domestic, but assured that Ukroboronprom’s foreign supply will also increase in 2020.
“We see that in 2020 export growth is planned to reach 30%. And this is a very important figure, especially in anticipation of a slowdown in industrial production growth, which is taking place not only in our country, but throughout the world,” said the head of Ukroboronprom.
