KARACHI: After a gap of four years instead of two due to Covid-19, the Defence Export Promotion Organisation (DEPO) will be holding the 11th edition of the International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) 2022 from November 15 to 18 at Karachi Expo Centre.

The previous defence exhibition held at the same venue was in 2018. As is the tradition of the usually biannual event since the year 2000, IDEAS 2022 will showcase a number of splendid activities encompassing world’s advance defence technology demonstrations, international seminars, the IDEAS Karachi Show, networking, and business expansions through Business-to-Business and Business-to-Government engagements.

It 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 would also be present to witness the event.

During a briefing by DEPO here on Saturday, Brigadier Naveed Azam Cheema said it has been a challenge holding the mega defence show after the devastation caused due to the floods here but the exhibition also helps Pakistan’s economy. He thanked the GHQ and federal and provincial governments for supporting DEPO.

11th edition of IDEAS to begin on Tuesday after four years

Adding that Pakistan’s export growth is on a positive trajectory thanks to such exhibitions, Brig Cheema said that IDEAS has always been a platform for local and foreign exhibitors to showcase their technology innovations.

“Pakistan’s defence industry, too, will display and also unveil many of its products,” he said, while adding that for the first time, the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry has also managed to pull in the local defence industry from Peshawar, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Lahore, Karachi, etc, to network and take their leap from IDEAS 2022.

The 10th edition of IDEAS in 2018 had some 45 countries exhibiting their products and this year that number has grown to 64.

Brig Cheema said that IDEAS 2022 surpassed all previous milestones in terms of space, booking, exhibitors and delegates both domestic and foreign. The Karachi Expo Centre has been booked to its full capacity with more than 500 exhibitors from Turkiye, China, North America, South America, Europe, Asia and the Far East out of which 60 per cent are international and 40pc local. Besides trade visitors, more than 285 high-level delegates from 64 countries are visiting the exhibition.

Although Russia will not be attending IDEAS 2022 as an exhibitor this time, they will still have a presence in the form of a delegation. Meanwhile, there are new entrants from several European countries including Austria, Romania and Hungary.

“Turkish companies are also growing exponentially all over the world and this time they have booked two complete halls for showcasing their products, while China has one complete hall,” Brig Cheema said, adding that all in all there are going to be nine exhibition halls for IDEAS 2022 at the Karachi Expo Centre.

After a grand inauguration ceremony on Nov 15, the first two days of IDEAS 2022 have been earmarked for delegations, trade visitors and networking activities. The other highlights include an international seminar on ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Defence Market; A Paradigm Shift in Military Strategy and National Security’ where renowned national and international subject matter experts will present their scholarly papers on the topic.

To mark the 11th edition of IDEAS 2022, the Ministry of Pakistan Postal Services has also issued a commemorative postal stamp of Rs20.

Other than this, the IDEAS 2022 Karachi Show has been planned specially for the people of Karachi on Nov 17 at the Nishan-i-Pakistan at Seaview.

DIG-Traffic Ahmed Nawaz Cheema also briefed the media about the traffic plan and alternative routes to facilitate the people during rush hours.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2022