Aivaras Abromavičius / Photo from UNIAN
He says such enterprise should be controlled by the Ukrainian government.
Director General of state-owned Military-Industrial Concern Ukroboronprom Aivaras Abromavičius has updated on the status of a deal with China on Motor Sich, a critically important aerospace asset.
"The buyer has asked for the green flight to build up over 50% of the plant's shares. Yesterday we asked the Anti-Monopoly Committee [of Ukraine, AMCU] to extend the deadline for two months. I hope the committee will be able to take a decision within this period," Abromavičius said in an interview for the Ukrainian online publication Ekonomichna Pravda.
He says the deal is a legacy left from the former government and the shares have already been acquired by Chinese investors.
According to him, Ukroboronprom is currently conducting an audit of the relations between the Ivchenko Progress Design Bureau and Motor Sich, since after the deal is closed, the Ukrainian bureau will enter relations with Motor Sich's Chinese plant as such.
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"We would like to reach an agreement with the new owners on our relationship, they want to sign new licensing agreements. Therefore, such a situation will continue for two more months. We will use this period for clarifying details," he said.
He says such enterprise should be controlled by the Ukrainian government. "I don't know what decision the AMCU will take, everything is within the legal framework, but I believe that the state should control the Motor Sich enterprise. I am sure that the state should have its final say on such a sensitive intellectual property topic in critical exports. I believe that in the end we should adopt a law as other developed countries did, because when foreign investors buy such critically important enterprises, the state should have the right to veto," he said.
On November 21, the Anti-Monopoly Committee postponed decision-making on an application filed by China's Skyrizon and Ukroboronprom regarding the deal on a controlling stake in the Zaporizhia-based Motor Sich plant.
It was earlier reported that Erik Prince, a private security contractor and informal adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, is in discussions to purchase a Ukrainian aerospace asset, Motor Sich.
Motor Sich is one of the world's leading manufacturers of engines for the aviation industry.
On August 25, PR Director of OJSC Motor Sich Anatoliy Malysh announced that China's Skyrizon and Xinwei Group had already applied to the AMCU for the approval of the deal to acquire over 50% of Motor Sich's shares.
The Wall Street Journal, citing sources in the U.S. administration, reported that the United States was trying to prevent the Chinese company from buying the Ukrainian Motor Sich plant, as this would significantly boost China's defense position.
On August 28, U.S. presidential adviser John Bolton said in Kyiv about risks of selling part of the Ukrainian Motor Sich to the Chinese side. According to him, China is playing a dishonest game in the United States and is stealing military technology.