Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of joint ventures between the UK and Ukrainian defence industries.

The UK recognises the need to develop strong defence industrial partnerships with Ukraine to accelerate and deepen UK and Ukrainian defence industrial capacity and capability, and to rebuild its defence industrial base.

Through Task Force HIRST, we actively encourage the development of partnerships and joint ventures between UK defence industry and local Ukrainian companies, and HMG has led five successful Trade Missions to Ukraine to bring together UK and Ukrainian Government and defence industry representatives, as well as international partners, to identify opportunities for developing sustainable, long-term cooperation and partnerships.

I recently led a trade mission of UK, Dutch and Norwegian firms to Ukraine in support of these and other aligned objectives.