00:00Daniel, how is Slovakia transforming its economy from a car manufacturing hub into what essentially is a key player in
00:06Europe's ammunition production?
00:10Good morning. Well, it's important to understand that Slovakia is not starting from zero, right?
00:14It has a long tradition of arms manufacturing dating back when it was part of so-called Eastern Bloc.
00:20And so even though the transformation in the 90s was very difficult and this industry was heavily decimated, only the
00:30most important facilities and factories managed to survive.
00:33This brings us to the current situation because once we saw the surge in demand, for example, for artillery ammunition
00:41in Europe,
00:41this company producing them, it just made much more sense for them to invest in existing capacity, you know, to
00:49put their new production lines,
00:50to scale up the production there, then to build a new factory somewhere else from scratch.
00:56So maybe this is the main reason why we witnessed this really strong rise and revival of this industry in
01:04Slovakia.
01:06Daniel, what role is Czechoslovak Group playing in scaling up Europe's defence manufacturing capacity?
01:15I think the Czechoslovak Group's or the CSG's role is real and tangible because we saw it in data that
01:23they are basically one of the fastest growing European defence companies out there.
01:28They had this successful IPO in January in Amsterdam, we reported, you know, they produce shells, armoured vehicles, other defence
01:37technologies.
01:37They are in very high demand currently in Europe and globally.
01:41And the situation in the European defence market is such that this demand far, far outstrips the supply.
01:49So every additional capacity counts and is valuable.
01:52I can tell you just one example, what we are writing today in the story, which is published, regarding their
02:00capacities in Slovakia.
02:01They are producing these artillery shells before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
02:08Before that, these capacities produced around 20 to 30,000 of these shells per year.
02:14Right now, the production volume is in hundreds of thousands.
02:18So this increase has been massive and I think we can say that it's been already felt, it can be
02:23felt at the European level.
02:26Yeah, absolutely.
02:27You have to imagine that the war then has influenced Slovakia's industrial priorities and also strategic importance within Europe.
02:34Can you give us some more detail on that?
02:38Definitely.
02:39It's been a game changer, right?
02:41As we report, these arms exports from Slovakia increased 23-fold just in the last four years.
02:48So it's been massive.
02:49This might come as a surprise to someone who listens to, for example, statements by the Slovak, current Slovak Prime
02:55Minister, Robert Fico,
02:56who is well known for his pro-peace stance and refusal of military aid to Ukraine.
03:01But the truth is, when you look at the real actions right here in Slovakia, this government is very supportive
03:07and active.
03:08They want to make most of it of support of this defense industry because they perceive it as, you know,
03:15helping the economy to grow, to bring additional revenues to state budget, to create more jobs.
03:22So this is their position.
03:24And regarding your note about the strategic importance, I think we can already say that this Slovakia can be established
03:34on the European defense map.
03:36Because, for example, once the latest investment that was announced just a while ago will be accomplished,
03:42Slovakia will own the full supply chain of this production of artillery shells.
03:47So basically these capacities will be able to produce every single part of these shells here.
03:52And what we are seeing globally right now, these bottlenecks and problems in supply chains,
03:57from this point of view, this self-sufficiency can be quite important during these times and amid all these circumstances.
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