KYIV. Feb 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) - President Leonid Kuchma has called for a stronger Ukrainian foothold in the international hi-tech weapons market.
"Ukraine holds weighty positions in the world hi-tech armaments market, and these positions need to be strengthened. I'm against these things being discussed in a whisper," he said.
More extensive use of the technological potential of the defense industry should become "an important instrument of state innovation policy," he said. Kuchma was speaking at a Friday conference on "Assertion of the Innovation Model for the Development of the Ukrainian Economy."
He said the defense industry is an important part of the country's scientific and technological potential.
But he insisted on tight controls over exports of hi-tech weapons.