DEFENCE EXPO

DefExpo 2018: Sitharaman meets defence attachés to review preparations

sitharaman-pti Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman speaks during the CII Annual Session in New Delhi on Monday | PTI

With an aim to promote India's defence sector globally, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday called a meeting with all the defence attachés, posted in various missions globally. Pushing for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Make in India theme, 44 military men, who are serving their tenure in various missions and embassies all over the world, have been called for a session of specialised briefings ahead of tenth edition of DefExpo-2018 happening in Chennai from April 11-14.

"It happened for the first time. All 44 defence attaches called by the defence minister and gave special directives and invited suggestions on ways to promote India's defence export. Officers from Army, Navy and Air Force, serving diplomatic posting, will also be given briefings by officials from the defence production wing of the ministry. Subsequently, they will travel to Chennai to interact with representatives from global defence manufacturing firms participating in the DefExpo,"said an official.

The theme of the upcoming DefExpo is, India: The emerging defence manufacturing hub. It will brand India as an exporter of defence systems and components.

Officials maintained that these military diplomats will be coordinating with industry representatives and will find out ways to push for India's defence exports in addition to invite defence industries to set up their bases in India.

To add grandeur to this year's DefExpo, for the first time, Prime Minister will be formally inaugurating the event. Earlier, defence minister used to inaugurate the event as the chief guest. Moreover, the BJP is trying to make inroads in Tamil Nadu politically, so the prime minister and defence minister are expected to make some announcement during the exhibition.

Meanwhile, despite making tall claims over the DefExpo-2018, the ministry of defence itself has accepted that the number of exhibitors will down by about 10 per cent from the last edition, held in Goa in 2016. An official said that 677 exhibitors, including 523 from India, had confirmed their participation in DefExpo-2018. The figure is far lower than the 1,055 Indian and foreign firms that took part in 2016.

With an aim to make DefExpo-2018 more attractive, an India pavilion is being set up for the first time under the Make in India theme. Besides, first ever combined live demonstrations of naval, aero and land systems will also be conducted in the Bay of Bengal. Moreover, to extend its outreach, DefExpo inaugural ceremony would be webcast on social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Periscope.