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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon colleagues.

The Commission for Military Technology Cooperation is meeting in its new membership today. Vladimir Kozhin has been appointed Presidential Aide for military technology cooperation matters. Please give him all your help and assistance. You all know him already, but I nonetheless introduce him in his new capacity. He will act as the Commission’s secretary now. I expect that Mr Kozhin’s extensive experience and professionalism will help him to quickly familiarise himself with the issues at hand and strengthen ties between the various state bodies involved in these areas and the actors in the military technology cooperation sector.

“Military technology cooperation is one of the most complex and responsible fields of work. It is particularly important to consolidate the positive trends in this sector and ensure proper control over the whole process.”

I want you to bear in mind that military technology cooperation is one of the most complex and responsible fields of work. It is particularly important to consolidate the positive trends in this sector and ensure proper control over the whole process.

Russian arms exports came to $5.6 billion over the first six months of 2014. This is a solid and impressive figure. The total export order portfolio increased to almost $50 billion.

What is important now is to ensure the entire military technology cooperation system’s steady development, keep building up our existing and prospective international ties in this sector, increase Russia’s presence on the global arms market, and help our defence industry to plan its expansion and modernisation and create quality new jobs.

I propose that we discuss today how we can make our military technology cooperation with foreign countries more effective. In particular, I propose that we take a separate look at issues concerning supplies of naval arms and equipment.

Russian naval goods have earned a deservedly good reputation among our foreign partners, and Russian-made ships and submarines are in service in the armed forces of 27 different countries. Our shipbuilders, designers, engineers and workers prove through their work that Russia can design and produce the most advanced and sophisticated high-tech goods.

“What is important now is to ensure the entire military technology cooperation system’s steady development, keep building up our existing and prospective international ties in this sector, increase Russia’s presence on the global arms market.”

Over the last five years, Russia has become a leader in the export of ships and now holds 27 percent of the global market. Russian submarines, frigates, missile boats, minesweepers and other craft have found demand abroad and we see that they can compete successfully on the global market in terms of quality and price. Among our biggest projects, I note the completion of the repair and modernisation of an aircraft carrier for India, which was handed over to our partners in November 2013.

Naval equipment currently accounts for around 15 percent of our defence industry’s portfolio of export orders. These goods have big market potential. The experts estimate that countries around the world will spend around $100 billion on re-equipping their navies over the coming years. 

Of course, competition is intense in this segment of the market. Not only are traditionally strong players such as the United States, Germany, Britain and France active here, but there are new players too, which have moved into licensed production of ships.

I think we need to follow all the developments in this sector very closely. I would like to hear specific proposals from you today on how we can strengthen Russia’s position as a leading global supplier of naval goods.

In conclusion, I want to raise one other matter, namely, that of developing domestic production to replace imports in the defence industry. We have already discussed this issue on a number of occasions. Our defence industry still has gaps in several areas. These gaps need to be filled as soon as possible. I know that the Defence Ministry and the Government have already worked through these matters. I want to reiterate that this is vitally important above all for our armed forces modernisation programme. All of this is realistic and will be done. It looks as though some extra funding will be needed, but the amounts required are within our means and will not be a burden on the budget.

Let’s begin our work. 

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