KARACHI: There will be 522 exhibitors from 50 countries, including Pakistan, at the 10th edition of the International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) 2018, scheduled for Nov 27 to 30 at the Karachi Expo Centre.

Speaking at the curtain-raiser event of IDEAS 2018 at the Expo Centre on Saturday, director coordination of Defence Export Promotion Organisation (DEPO) Brigadier Waheed Mumtaz said that with the defence exports of Pakistan currently standing at $300 million with aircraft such as JF-17 fighters and Mushshak central in the sales, the upcoming edition of IDEAS would surpass all previous milestones in terms of space, booking, exhibitors and delegates, both domestic and foreign.

Besides trade visitors, more than 262 high-level delegations from 51 countries are also visiting the exhibition.

Countries such as China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Jordon, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, UAE, Ukraine, USA and host Pakistan are all establishing their exclusive country pavilions at the Expo Centre. For the purpose, the organisers have also added three extra exhibition halls in the form of marquees.

Though a presentation, Commodore Tariq Javed, the media director of DEPO, also said that the event as per its traditions would offer a number of activities encompassing the world’s advance defence technology demonstrations, an international seminar, three conferences by the Pakistan armed forces, the IDEAS Karachi Show, a counterterrorism demonstration, networking and business expansions through business to business (B2B) and business to government (B2G) engagements and the signing of MoUs.

“IDEAS 2018 will bring together defence industries from across the globe to showcase their latest technological innovations. A large number of senior civil and military delegations and trade visitors will also be witnessing the exhibition,” he said.

IDEAS will kick off with a grand inauguration ceremony.

The first two days have been earmarked for delegations, trade visitors and for networking activities. The other highlights include an international seminar on emerging global and regional environment and the role of grey hybrid warfare therein from Pakistan’s perspective. Renowned national and international subject matter experts will also present their scholarly papers on the topic.

It was shared that Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Zubair Mahmood Hayat will be the keynote speaker at the seminar. Another significance of IDEAS 2018 is the holding of exclusive land, maritime and aviation conferences by Pakistan Army, Navy and the Air Force, respectively, which will be hosted by respective service chiefs.

To specially mark the 10th edition of IDEAS, the Ministry of Pakistan Postal Services is also issuing a commemorative postal stamp of Rs10 denomination. The ticket will be available for sale at the Expo Centre as well as all major post offices from the inaugural day.

In addition, two Russian naval ships will also be visiting Pakistan for port call during IDEAS. 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.

General public

The Karachi Show has been planned specially for the people of the city at Nishan-i-Pakistan, Seaview, on Nov 29.

In addition, Nov 30, the fourth day of the exhibition will be exclusively reserved for the general public.

Brigadier Waheed Mumtaz said it was pertinent to point out that by saying “open to the public” they don’t mean “open” in the classic sense.

“The Karachi Show as well as the IDEAS exhibition will be open to those who have taken the trouble to register online. They should also carry their CNICs with them,” he stressed. “This is an international event and security of the participants, visitors and guests along with the public, too, cannot be taken lightly,” he added.

Traffic plan

On the occasion, DIG Traffic East Javed Ali Mahar, also briefed the media about the traffic plan that will include the deployment of 2,300 police personnel and alternative routes to facilitate travelling of the people of Karachi during rush hours. He said that Sir Shah Sulaiman Road from the National Stadium Karachi flyover to Hasan Square will be closed for public. Residents of this area though will be allowed to pass through after showing their CNICs.

A map shared by the police on the occasion showed yellow barriers with brown stripes indicating the areas closed for the general public while the blue barriers with purple stripes show the area from where the heavy traffic will be filtered and diverted to alternative routes. The open roads have been indicated with green and blue arrows, the stars show where diversions have been created and the blank rectangular boxes show the parking areas from where one can take a shuttle to the Expo Centre.

Air Commodore Tahir Anwar, Brig Ali Ammar Haider from DEPO, Brig Abid Ali Askari, and Zohair Naseer chief operating officer of Badar Expo Solutions were also present during the briefing.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2018