KARACHI: Many of the state of art equipment and weapons of foreign origin used by Pakistan armed forces have been completely overhauled, repaired and modernized by local engineers and technicians, said Minister for Defence Production, Sardar Bahadur Khan Sahar on Wednesday,
Addressing the participants of IDEAS 2012, at its inaugural ceremony, he said this has helped the country to develop a broad based industrial capacity.
"Today, I feel proud to state that Pakistan both in public and private sectors has tremendous capacity to manufacture both small and major weaponry as well as equipment," he said.
In the given backdrop the minister said Pakistan, like any developing country, does look forward to collaboration with the developed world, producing technologically-advanced defence equipment.
This would not only augment the existing capabilities of Pakistan but also improve its economic activities and employment opportunities, he said.
The minister said such mutual exercise and joint ventures does equally benefit the developed countries.
He said the 7th International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS - 2012) will bring to the fore even more lucrative opportunities for Pakistan defence industry and parallel industries of foreign countries.
He was hopeful that it would help achieve more viable business prospects than ever before.
"It would not only help attain better commercial gains but would also assist the key players achieve almost equitable status in terms of defence potential," said the minister of defence production.
The Minister of Defence Production said capability of key players to achieve equitable status is a way forward to achieve the dream of world peace, also reflected in IDEAS' theme "Arms for Peace".
He said IDEAS has come a long way since its inception in 2000 and that every new exhibition of the series attained better standard compared to the previous one.
"It, however, every time provided an extremely valuable and interactive forum for the benefit of scientists, engineers, managers, trade and policy architects associated with the defence sector of the participating countries, he said.
The minister appreciated Defence Export Promotion Organization (DEPO) for its tireless efforts to arrange the event.
Director general of DEPO, Maj-Gen, Tahir Ashraf Khan on the occasion said the first international exhibition and seminar organized by it 12 years ago was attended by 65 exhibiting countries and 42 delegations from 20 countries.
"This time around we at IDEAS 2012 are host to 209 companies, including 135 foreign and 74 Pakistani companies as well as 80 mid to highest level of defence delegations, alongwith a number of other trade visitors," he said.
The DEPO chief particularly referred to prominent presence of Turkey in the IDEAS 2012 with the largest pavilion followed by the People's Republic of China.
The 20 other countries, with significant participation in the exhibition were cited to be from America, Europe and Asia.
The DG - DEPO said the seminar, an integral part of the event,would cover academic part of the defence industrial cooperation; including response to the changing security environment, the nature of war and warfare technology,
"Innovation in technology and changed dynamics of warfare necessitate that we incorporate the planners, developers and practitioners together on a single platform," he said.
"This is the key mission of IDEAS as we aim to bring technology, innovation and employment to the forefront," added the DEPO chief.
Comments
Comments are closed.