IDEAS 2018 to receive 262 delegations from 51 countries

KARACHI: IDEAS 2018, the 10th International Defence Exhibition and Seminar, will be attended by 262 high level delegations from 51 countries, officials of the Defence Export Promotion Organization (DEPO) said during a briefing on Saturday.

China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Jordon, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, UAE, Ukraine, and US are establishing their exclusive country pavilion at the expo.

IDEAS 2018 has surpassed all previous milestones in terms of space, booking, exhibitors and delegates - domestic and foreigners, and Karachi Expo Centre has been booked to its full capacity with 522 exhibitors from 50 countries, including Pakistan, the officials informed.

Brigadier Waheed Mumtaz, director coordination, Commodore Tariq Mahmood, Air Commodore Tahir Anwar, Brig Ali Ammar Haider from DEPO, Brig Abid Ali Askri, DIGP Traffic East, Javed Ali Mahar, and Zohair Naseer, chief operating officer, Badar Expo Solutions were also present during the brief.

Meanwhile, there are hundreds of high level B2B and B2G meetings planned on the sidelines between foreign delegates, key government officials, and participants of the exhibition.

The exhibition will start on November 27 after a grand inauguration ceremony and will continue till November 30, 2018.

The first two days have been earmarked for delegations,

trade visitors and networking activities.

The other highlights of the day include an international seminar on emerging global and regional environment and the role of grey hybrid warfare there in; Pakistan’s perspective. Renowned national and international subject matter experts will present their scholarly papers on the topic.

Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Zubair Mahmood Hayat NI(m) will be the keynote speaker.

Another significance of IDEAS 2018 is the holding of exclusive land, maritime and aviation conferences by Pakistan Army, Navy and Air Force respectively which will be hosted by respective service chiefs.

To specially mark the 10th edition of IDEAS 2018, Ministry of Pakistan Postal Services is issuing a Commemorative Postal Stamp of Rs10.

These tickets will be available for sale from November 27, 2018 at KEC and major post offices. In addition, two Russian Naval Ships are also visiting Pakistan for port call during IDEAS 2018.

New inventions of Pakistan defence industry (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.