"We will hold talks with representatives of more than 50 countries during the event. By the way, the Army 2018 forum will see a real ‘African breakthrough.’ Apart from our traditional partners from North African countries, we expect delegations from 16 countries south of Sahara to visit our stall and hold negotiations with us," Mikheyev said.

MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/. Representatives of more than 50 countries will hold talks with Russia on the sidelines of the Army 2018 international forum, Russian state arms seller Rosoboronexport CEO Alexander Mikheyev told reporters on Monday.

According to him, despite tough competition, the number of countries that cooperate with Rosoboronexport has been growing and the company’s financial performance has been improving. "The company has on many occasions pointed to elements of unfair competition," Mikheyev noted.

He added that a forum dubbed National Security Week would for the first time be held during the Army 2018 event.

"Rosoboronexport plans to give presentations and hold talks concerning the company’s production in this new and rapidly evolving market segment, which includes solutions to fight terrorism, comprehensive systems to protect borders and critical infrastructure," the Rosoboronexport CEO said. "These products are developed in line with the modern security challenges and may be effectively used against high-precision weapons, unmanned aerial vehicles and stealth technology," he added.

Russia is taking effective measures to thwart attempts to interfere in military-technical cooperation with its partners abroad, he said.

"Most of our partners see and understand their benefits from cooperation with Rosoboronexport. Their willingness to uphold and protect their sovereignty demonstrates that. With comprehensive support from Russia’s political leadership and state financial agencies, we take effective measures to neutralize non-market attempts to influence our business processes. Russia maintains military-technical cooperation with other countries under intergovernmental agreements, and any sanctions directed against us and our foreign customers is interference in countries’ domestic affairs," he stressed.

The Army-2018 international military and technical forum is scheduled to take place at the Patriot Park outside Moscow on August 21-26.