The Second International Defense Industries Forum (DFNC2) was held in Kyiv. The government portal notes that this year’s forum was attended by more than 750 people from 26 countries. The event brought together 168 foreign and 115 Ukrainian defense companies and associations. In total, about 120 B2B meetings were held between the participants.
Artem Vashchylenko, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Public Union “Ukrainian Maritime Cluster”, held a number of meetings aimed at deepening international relations and establishing new partnerships for further cooperation. Thus, substantive communication took place with Joachim Finkielman Director DI Danish Defense and Security Industries (Copenhagen, Denmark), Filip Rensch-Jacobsen Vice President of AI & Accelerator Terma A/S (Copenhagen, Denmark), Elina Egle-Ločmele CEO Federation of Security and Defense Industries of Latvia (Riga, Latvia); Gray Jon ADS Group ADS Group (London, United Kingdom). Given the specifics of the meeting, the details of it will not be disclosed.
DFNC2 was organized by the Ministry of Strategic Industries of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
The goal of DFNC2 in 2024 was to build on last year’s successes (DFNC1) by deepening partnerships, creating new alliances and promoting innovative defense solutions. This year’s forum aims to further strengthen Ukraine’s defense capabilities and global cooperation for a safer world.
The main topics of the forum were the achievements and challenges of arms production in Ukraine, creation of new partnerships and strengthening of existing ones. The participants also discussed reaching agreements on further prospects for cooperation, both between companies and between the defense industries of the partner countries.
This Forum demonstrated the interest of the international community in the development of the Ukrainian defense industry through strengthening international cooperation and a promising increase in foreign investment in Ukrainian arms production. The high-level organization of the event and the participation of top state officials demonstrate the comprehensive support and purposeful work to strengthen Ukraine’s defense capabilities. PU “Ukrainian Maritime Cluster” supports the national desire to strengthen Ukraine on all fronts and in 2023 has already submitted proposals to the relevant ministries for the development of the “Strategy of Shipbuilding of Ukraine”, unfortunately, no information was provided on their acceptance or rejection.