MOSCOW. Sept 25 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia's profits from arms and military hardware exports will considerably exceed the target figure in 2003, Mikhail Dmitriyev, chairman of the Russian committee for military-technical cooperation with foreign countries, said in an interview published in the latest issue of the Voyenno-Promyshlenny Kurier newspaper.
"Our export target is USD4.4bn. We will exceed it, I cannot tell you now the exact figure, but I believe that it will be higher than the target by USD200m or even USD500m. Every year sees some force majeure circumstances that cannot be foreseen, and some supplies have to be stopped," Dmitriyev said.
At the same time, there are problems which the committee has to work on. Among them are the quality of exported armaments, their technical servicing abroad, and spare part supplies, the chairman said.
According to him, the situation with spare parts supplies and technical servicing of our hardware abroad will improve in two to three years, as new participants in military-technical cooperation establish themselves on the foreign market of spare parts. A total of 15 Russian companies have been granted the license to operate independently on the foreign market in the sphere of spare parts supplies and technical servicing. They are to sell over USD30m of their products before the end of the year.
Dmitriyev believes that it is currently inexpedient to transform Rosoboronexport, Russia's major arms trader, from a unitary enterprise into a joint-stock company. "We have spoken against Rosoboronexport's transformation into a joint-stock company at the current stage. The committee's point of view was supported by several ministries and agencies. We asked to take a break and not rush the solution of the problem," he said.
Rosoboronexport's transformation will have more negative than positive consequences, Dmitriyev argued.
"At the present time, Rosoboronexport is doing nearly the full volume of planned work. The country needs this enterprise, it should be preserved, and snap decisions should be evaded. That is why we asked for a break, it is necessary to discuss everything in detail, and then the president will bring in the final verdict," the official said.