The Minister of Economy and Finance of the French Republic Bruno Le Maire thanked Arsen Avakov for cooperation and expressed readiness to work together on the implementation of existing and future mutually beneficial projects.

The other day, during a telephone conversation, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov and the Minister of Economy and Finance of the French Republic Bruno Le Maire, with the participation of the ambassadors of both countries, discussed the state of cooperation between the main existing and future economic and social programs.

In particular, there was an issue of actual readiness for the beginning of realization of a new project of constructing patrol cutters for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine by the OCEA company with the participation of domestic shipbuilders in Mykolaiv.

“We are ready to start and sign a contract with OCEA to start construction of border patrol boats to strengthen maritime security and protection of Ukraine. This project, with a total cost of 136 million euros, is the second-largest for our countries after the helicopter project with Airbus. Its implementation is of strategic importance for the cooperation of our states and brings it to a qualitatively new level. OCEA was selected from more than 10 leading industry suppliers. The intergovernmental agreement on support for France has already been ratified by our parliament. We invite representatives of the French Government to the contract signing ceremony, which will take place in Ukraine in mid-July this year with the participation of a Ukrainian partner - a shipyard in Mykolayiv, which will build 5 out of 20 modern boats,” said Arsen Avakov.

The Minister of Economy and Finance of the French Republic Bruno Le Maire thanked Arsen Avakov for cooperation and expressed readiness to work together on the implementation of existing and future mutually beneficial projects.

It should be mentioned that according to the project, the ships and boats of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine will be joined with 20 state-of-the-art 32-meter patrol boats of the OCEA company, which will be used to protect the state border.