Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I appreciate each one of you, present in this room, for standing with us for already 651 days in this Great war. Your support is crucial. Trust me, it is not an easy job to speak after such grate line of speakers, but I will try to speak not about political matters, but about business.

My mission is to grow defence industry in Ukraine. And industry, above all, it is all about business opportunities.

An opportunity to rapidly ramp up production capabilities, as Ukraine is the place where defense industry regulation is most favorable to the producer. An opportunity to improve your products and ensure their effectiveness in real combat conditions by leveraging the experience of Ukrainian engineers and armed forces. We'll be happy to share lessons learnt in defense tech as well — after all, it is defense tech that allows creating asymmetrical responses to the force of the enemy. Because he is quantitatively advantageous. It's an opportunity to open up new markets. We all know that the war has depleted stocks and warehouses of the whole world. These warehouses will need to be replenished. But Ukraine is unique in providing longer-term perspectives.

Besides filling NATO countries' warehouses, after the war, Ukrainian manufacturers, will be equipped with experience of transitioning from Soviet-standard weaponry to NATO-standard weaponry, can deliver this expertise to countries in the Global South, which currently rely on arms supplied by Russia.

A good example of such a transition is the FrankenSAM portfolio of projects and it`s about creating hybrid solutions that combine Soviet and NATO elements. This program is already underway, and I would like to express my special thanks to Undersecretary LaPlante, and his team - especially Laura Cooper and William Schreiber. And of course, US Army and US defence industry.

I strongly believe that after the war finishes with the victory of Ukraine, together we can capture Russia's market share in weapons export, as Secretary Pritzker said.

I want to thank US Government for hosting us here today with this conference. Earlier this year, in September, we hold our first defence industry forum in Kyiv, under the leadership of my president Zelenskyy. And we were happy to welcome 13 US companies from defence industry and Arizona defence industry coalition. Now we are here with 38 Ukrainian companies, and both state owned and private, and we are here to discuss joint operations in Ukraine.

Again, I’m grateful for all the aid we already received and I hope, will keep receiving, cause no single nation can withstand against a tyranny alone. But I am here to show you business opportunities in Ukraine for US defence industry.

We’ve been building ourselves as a peaceful agricultural country. We’ve been known as the breadbasket of Europe. But this war forced us to rebuild ourselves as the arsenal. The arsenal of the free world. Let’s build it together. Thank you.