AFTER a gap of four years, the eleventh edition of International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS-2022) is beginning with complete grandeur at Karachi Expo Centre today.
Living by its tradition, it is bringing together the global defence industry for synergistic businesses and cooperation.
The success of the event can already be gauged from the fact that it has surpassed all previous milestones in terms of space, booking, exhibitors and delegates both domestic and foreign.
The Expo Centre has been booked to its full capacity with more than five hundred exhibitors from countries such as China, Turkey, North and South America, Europe, Asia and the Far East.
Besides trade visitors, more than 285 high-level delegates from various countries are visiting the exhibition.
The credit of this really goes to the whole team of Defence Export Promotion Organization (DEPO) led by DG Major General Arif Malik who really worked day in, day out to make the event a mega success.
Since its inception, IDEAS has really emerged as an international rendezvous of defence manufacturers, entrepreneurs, research and development specialists, financial experts and top level policy makers to promote cooperation, knowledge-sharing and support ventures in the field of defence collaboration.
The latest edition has come at a time when Pakistan is faced with multitude of challenges, hence, we believe its proper projection by the media will go a long way in projecting the country’s soft image as well as its resilience to stand the difficult times.
The motto of IDEAS “arms for peace” also highlights Pakistan’s commitment to the international community for peace and harmony.
IDEAS 2022 is reflection of Pakistan’s consistent efforts to galvanize industrial activities for the production of defence equipment through collaboration and joint ventures in addition to indigenous production.
As regards our defence production industry, it has really evolved over the years which guarantees peace with honour and dignity.
Towards this end, we have been able to develop significant capabilities of sophisticated weapons and equipment such as main battle field tanks, UAVs, armoured vehicles, missiles and modern jet aircraft and aircraft-related technology.
Besides meeting the domestic requirements our defence products are now gaining market shares in the international level as well.
This path must continue to not only achieve self-sufficiency in defence production but the export of sophisticated weapons will also help the country earn valuable foreign exchange reserves.
For this, we need to enter into joint ventures with different friendly countries. We are confident IDEAS 2022 will significantly contribute towards fostering and promoting Pakistan’s strategic relations with the international fraternity and help achieve the shared objectives of global peace, stability and balance.