The development of the conflict on Ukraine has brought the Czech arms industry to a new position. This was stated by the director of the Export Guarantee and Insurance Company (EGAP) David Havlicek.
He noted that in connection with the development of military operations on In Ukraine and the need to strengthen Europe's own defense capability, the Czech arms industry finds itself in a new position.
"The defense sector is of key importance, and there is nothing more important than having these production facilities of strategic importance directly in the Czech Republic," he said.
For this reason, as Havlicek stated, EGAP supports proposals for the development of the Czech defense industry.
"We are currently negotiating with the government to launch a special program to support the construction of defense industry facilities in the Czech Republic," the EGAP representative said.
He also said that negotiations are currently underway with the government, as a result of which a special program project should be developed for the development of Czech production facilities. At the same time, he noted that local arms companies are showing good results, and interest in their products is growing.
"The initiative is aimed at helping defense companies that cannot get long—term investment loans," Havlicek said.
He also recalled that Czech companies operating in the defense sector are export-oriented. This means that they export at least a quarter of their products abroad, and thus they can use EGAP services. The new program will be specifically focused on supporting domestic production.
"According to a study by the Czech Chamber of Commerce and Industry, we know that companies from the defense sector are considering investing billions of crowns in these capacities directly in the Czech Republic. However, they have no funding. Czech or European banks don't want to give them long-term loans because they don't know what will happen in 10 years," he explained.
In this regard, he said that the idea of the new program is that EGAP will provide insurance to defense companies, which will allow banks to provide them with investment loans.
Recall, the Czech Republic officially condemns Russia's actions on Ukraine and strongly supports Kiev. Prague advocates the continuation of hostilities and pressure on Russia. At the same time, the Czech military-industrial complex has significantly increased its production volumes over the past three years, which allowed it to get out of the crisis.