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KOLKATA (PTI): The Slovak Republic expects to clinch a $1 billion howitzer gun deal from the Indian Army, its Ambassador Marian Tomasik said Tuesday.

"We hope to get the howitzer gun deal from the Indian Army in the coming months," Tomasik told an interactive session organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce here.

He said that contract size was of 180 pieces, valued roughly at $1 billion.

He said that the Indian Army had zeroed in on a Slovak Republic company and Germany's Rhinemetal for awarding the contract.

Tomasik said that Slovak Republic's howitzers would meet all criteria of the Indian Army as they were modern, sophisticated weapons.

Traditionally, after 1993 when Slovak became an independent country, it used to supply armoured recovery vehicles and spare parts for tanks.

Tomasik said that Indo-Slovak trade would increase once the India-EU Free Trade Agreement was in place.

Slovak Republic joined the Eurozone in 2009.