“Rosoboronexport is consistently strengthening its positions in Latin American countries. Positions of our competitors are very solid, which makes process difficult. But a tendency toward closer ties in defense is obvious,” Sergei Ladygin said.
The delegation head explained that Russia and Latin America have common views on key geopolitical issues and mutual interest in expanding cooperation in trade, science and industry.
“If we speak specifically about certain types of weapons, the most promising segment of the Latin American market is aviation, especially helicopters. This is followed by armament, ground force equipment, and various kinds of air defense systems,” Ladygin said.
Russia is actively expanding military cooperation with Latin American countries, including arms sales, construction of naval maintenance and resupply facilities, and the occasional use of local airbases to host Russian strategic bombers on global patrol missions.
Several Latin American countries have also shown potential for cooperating with Russia on high-tech development and manufacturing. Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico and Chile are among the countries that have declared an interest in developing foreign trade and cooperation with Russia, according to the Russian state technology company Rostec.