Building better defence industry partnerships: opportunities in the new geopolitics, the new report from UK/Romania Business, was launched last night, 25 November, at the Palace of Westminster.
Exploring the geopolitical relevance of Romania – and commercial opportunities that flow from this – the comprehensive analysis examines what increased defence spending means, how a greater European interest in sovereign defence capability shapes this, and where the UK and Romania can build together for the changing nature of warfare and weapons systems.
Featuring original interviews with a wide range of defence industry experts from both Romania and the UK, the foreword to the report was written by General (ret.) Daniel Petrescu, former Chief of the Romanian Defence Staff. It concludes by offering three recommendations around:
better defence industry dialogue and procurement process reform
radical transformation of industry ownership
the need to build a defencetech and dual-use innovation economy in Romania.
Hosted by Bob Blackman CBE MP, discussion at the launch was led by report author, Dr David Webster, and featured Nick Bolan, UK Future Milsatcom Solution Lead, Airbus Defence and Space; Air Flotilla General (ret.) Adrian Duță, Senior Advisor – Defence and Security, KPMG Romania; Nicoleta Gradinaru, Founder and Director of International Partnerships, MGNG UK; and George Bara, Founder and Head of Strategy, Zetta Critical, who together explored these key themes and conclusions.
Launching the report, Dr David Webster, founder of UK/Romania Business said, “British companies have often overlooked the potential of the Romanian market. Their heads may now be turned by the abundance of new defence money, but if they've failed to build good local relationships this pot of cash might still be beyond them.” Commenting on the need for radical defence industry reform in Romania, Dr Webster continued “the temptation for the Romanian government will be to allocate SAFE funds to ROMARM companies hoping this can serve as the investment they sorely need. This is short-term and flawed thinking. Post-Ukraine conflict there'll be a point at which Romania will switch from being a critical conduit on the eastern flank of NATO, to a country on the fringe of the region's true source of defence innovation and manufacturing excellence. It's industry needs to reinvent itself now or Romanian companies will be bulldozed.”
Publication of Building better defence industry partnerships: opportunities in the new geopolitics was supported by Wolf Theiss Romania, Europe’s leading CEE/SEE focussed law firm. It was further assisted by Activize, How to Web, KPMG Romania and Underline Ventures.
Download the report now here www.uk-romania.business/resources
