Tenth international defence exhibition begins in Karachi

The tenth International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS), one of the most prestigious, biennially held events in the country will open at Expo Centre here on Tuesday and continue till Nov 30.

President of Pakistan, Dr Arif Alvi will be the chief guest at the impressive inaugural ceremony marked for the occasion amidst the presence of 262 high level delegations from 51 different countries.

Organized under the aegis of Defence Export Promotion Organization (DEPO), the IDEAS - 2018 will bring together defence industry players from different parts of the world.

"There will be 522 exhibitors from 50 countries this year," the media director of DEPO, Commodore Tariq Javed said in a media briefing.

Besides, Pakistan itself, other major exporters of defence technology including China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, UAE, Ukraine, USA were said to have their exclusive country pavilions.

The guest countries are expected to showcase their latest technological innovations while a large number of senior civil and military delegations and trade visitors from across the globe will attend the event.

Mentioning that the defence exports of Pakistan currently stands at $300 million, Commodore Tariq Javed said IDEAS 2018 would surpass all previous milestones in terms of space, booking, exhibitors and delegates, both domestic and foreign.

"This is besides the fact that more than 262 high-level delegations from 51 countries are also visiting the exhibition," DEPO official said.

Reiterating that IDEAS is one of the most strategically important event of the region, he said current year edition will once again bring together all the industry's players across the globe to showcase the latest technological innovations.

The event as per its traditions will encompass series of activities ranging from world’s advance defence technology demonstrations, an international seminar, three conferences by the Pakistan armed forces, the IDEAS Karachi Show to a counter- terrorism demonstration.

Networking and business expansions through business to business(B2B) and business to government (B2G) engagements and the signing of MoUs were said to be additional features of the exhibition.

Two Russian naval ships will also be visiting Pakistan for port call during IDEAS 2018. New inventions of Pakistan defence industry including those from Global Industrial Solutions, Pakistan Ordnance Factories, Military Vehicles Research and Development Establishment, Shibli Electronics, Universal Smart Military Systems and Daudson Armoury will also be inaugurated and showcased during the exhibition.

In reply to a question, DEPO official said the four days of the show are exclusively for trade visitors and high official defence delegates.

Sharing further details of the programs chalked out for IDEAS2018, he said the first two days have been earmarked for delegations, trade visitors and networking activities.

Commodore Tariq Javed said this will be followed by an international seminar on emerging global and regional environment and the role of grey hybrid warfare therein from Pakistan’s perspective.

Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Zubair Mahmood Hayat would be the keynote speaker at the seminar with national and international subject matter experts to present their scholarly papers on the topic, he said.

Exclusive land, maritime and aviation conferences by Pakistan Army, Navy and the Air Force respectively was said to be another significant component of IDEAS 2018. For the citizens of the metropolis, "The Karachi Show," was said to be planned at Nishan-i-Pakistan, Seaview, on Nov 29. Moreover, the fourth day of the exhibition will also be opened to the citizens in general.

"It will, however, be only for those who may have already registered themselves online to visit the exhibition," said the official mentioning that security of the participants, national and international visitors besides public in general will not be compromised in any manner.