Shareholders of the state-owned joint-stock company Armex, which trades in Slovak defense equipment, decided to liquidate their company at a meeting on December 15.
Representatives of the Economy Ministry, which holds a 36% stake in Armex, agreed on the move with engineering firm DMD Holding (34%), the Defense Ministry (20%) and the Interior Ministry (10%).
Defense Minister Pavol Kanis announced the intention of the government to grant the Defense Ministry the position of coordinator of the Slovak defense industry. He remarked that in some cases, the uncoordinated steps of individual Slovak arms exporters had caused cancellation of significant contracts. He also pointed out the necessity of preventing exports of Slovak weapons to countries under embargo.
Another Armex shareholder, DMD Holding, has been warning for some time that uncoordinated commercial policy is damaging the interests of Slovak arms producers..
