Addressing the GOCA Fall Conference in Vancouver, a spokesman from Canada’s Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) talked up the success of his country’s Industrial and Technological Benefits (ITB) policy. Businesses on the receiving end talked it down.
“Clean up your act,” Dhiraj Mathur, partner (Aerospace and Defence) at PWC’s Delhi branch, told contractors attending the GOCA conference. He issued a stark warning to anyone with obligations in India that the government is cracking down on compliance and documentation in response to a number of dodgy offset claims.
The Tawazun Economic Council’s “Contractors Council Workshop” adopted a fresh approach at its October meeting. It invited contractors to be frank and honest when raising their concerns. Astonished delegates accepted the challenge. A feedback session was done in very good humour. There was no update on the new offset policy, however.
A report by the Polish Institute of International Affairs explains that the country is an outlier among European countries with a defence industrial base that consists largely of a single state-run company. The value of exports produced by the Polish Armaments Group is relatively low and the group is dependent on domestic sales.
The Swiss government has organised a series of meetings between foreign contractors and local companies to explore industrial participation opportunities associated with its forthcoming fighter jet procurement. Oskar Schwenk, boss of the Swiss aircraft manufacturer Pilatus, has criticized the initiative which he says would increase the price by 15-20 percent.