British Embassy in Poland hosts a UK-Poland Defence Forum with the British-Polish Chamber of Commerce.
On 27 June high level ministry contacts and key players from the defence business gathered at an event held at the British Embassy Warsaw.
Last week’s British-Polish Defence Forum organised by UKTI Warsaw, in coordination with BPCC and ADS London, met with true interest of both high level ministry contacts and key players from the defence business. The event was opened by ambassador Robin Barnett, Antoni F. Reczek, Chairman of the Board BPCC and Gen. Stanislaw Butlak, General Advisor to the Undersecretary of State, MOD. The Forum gathered a sound audience of over 100 senior officials and CEO’s. The speakers came from the key defence businesses in the UK, such as, Thales UK, Rolls-Royce, Lockheed Martin, AugustaWestland just to name a few. The two panels turned into lively and constructive discussions.
The act of signing the Memorandum of Understanding between Aerospace, Defence and Security (ADS) from the UK and the Polish Chamber of National Defence Manufacturers flagged the future direction and strengthened current cooperation between these two major Polish and British business associations.
The focus of the Forum was on innovative technologies and opportunities in the defence sector, which seems a future direction of the sector.
Polish and British defence contractors, representatives of the Polish and British Ministries of Defence, army, air force and navy, had a real opportunity to discuss mutual cooperation, as well as issues surrounding bilateral defence procurement. The forum also served as an excellent networking opportunity.
The table top exhibition gathered a snapshot of great UK expertise and know how, it provided a great opportunity to showcase the latest technologies in this sector. Amongst the exhibiting companies there were the leading defence businesses: Inmarsat Global Ltd, Selex ES Ltd, Vital Seating and Systems Ltd, Thales UK Ltd, Analytical Graphics UK Ltd, TMD Technologies Ltd and IFS Defence. Both sessions, the exhibition and the Forum, underlined the need for cooperation between business and R&D.