PANAJI
The four-day event -- a biennial exhibition of Land, Naval and Internal Homeland Security Systems -- will be inaugurated by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.
Over 1,000 companies, both foreign and Indian, are taking part in the exhibition this year. With a total of 510 companies, participation by Indian companies has doubled since 2014 which saw
a participation by 256 companies. A total of 490 foreign companies are participating this year against 368 in DefExpo 2014.
“India is among a handful of countries in the world with indigenous capabilities in the defence fields such as multi-level strategic deterrence, ballistic missile defence, nuclear powered submarines, main battle tank, stealth destroyers, aircraft carriers and fourth generation fighter aircraft,” an official defence ministry release said.
“With the changes in government policies on defence acquisition and ‘’Make in India’’ campaign, considerable impetus is being given to indigenisation in defence sector,” it said.
“The exhibition would be showcasing India’’s capabilities in Land, Naval and Security Systems as well as its emergence as an attractive destination for investment in Defence sector.
Around 950 delegations against 511 in 2014 are expected to visit the exhibition this year providing great synergy in business to business (B2B) activities during the short span of 4 days. The exhibition will thus provide an excellent platform to enhance growth in the sector in the coming years. 204 official delegations from 44 countries and around 750 non official business delegations are attending the show.
On the sidelines of the exhibition, seminars will provide a platform to showcase developments and opportunities in the defence sector.
47 countries from different continents will be taking part in the exhibition against 30 countries which participated in the last edition of DefExpo. These are Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Continued from P3
Republic of Korea, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, UK, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates and United States of America.
The strong tourism and hotel industry of Goa allows the exhibition to expand to the scale as it has done this year. In turn, the exhibition will also provide an enhanced income to the local economy in terms of hotel bookings, taxi services and visits to tourist spots. Care is being taken to preserve the ecology of the site.
The event will be open to public on March 31 and by prior registration on other days.
